


Hello Happiness

by bottomchanyeol, easytea



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: ABO dynamics, M/M, harassment (detailed in the beginning + past mentions)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 14:22:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 56,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17225687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bottomchanyeol/pseuds/bottomchanyeol, https://archiveofourown.org/users/easytea/pseuds/easytea
Summary: Chanyeol isn't looking for love, but his friends make him use a dating app anyway.- This fanwork was written for round 2 of the bottom!Chanyeol fest [2018/19].-[1/23] Minor info added and edits for grammar were made





	1. ONE

**Author's Note:**

> I CAN'T BELIEVE~ I wrote something this long, but I am proud of it. It's my first go at an ABO AU so I hope I did well.
> 
> To the prompter ♥: This was really supposed to be a relatively short fic, but it exploded into a much higher word count than I'm used to writing for fests. But I hope you like it and that it falls in line with what you were looking for.
> 
> To Mod ♥: I am eternally grateful for your patience and giving me all the time I needed to complete this fic! You're so nice and sweet and it honestly made my experience in this fest much more enjoyable.
> 
> To my Beta ♥: This fic would not exist without you and I don't think I'll ever have the proper words to say how thankful I am towards you. You've helped me so much with plotting and convo ideas and reassuring me when I needed it. I'm happy that I got you as a beta because I don't think I would have made it to the end or had such a positive and fun journey with writing. So really, thank you!

_11:55AM._ Five more minutes and Chanyeol can go home and rest. He wouldn’t be so tired if he hadn’t let Baekhyun and Sehun drag him to a bar to meet another wolf—a beta this time—and drank the night away until an hour before his shift at the gas station began. He should have been over this kind of lifestyle when he graduated university, but being an unmated omega has his friends dragging him to every party and bar and blind date they can scrounge up. Omegas aren’t meant to be single apparently. Thank Gods Sehun is graduating in a year and a half and he can stop knowing so many wolves. Or maybe Chanyeol will land a job in a foreign country to escape the matchmaking.

Whichever comes first.

So Chanyeol spends the next five minutes keeping himself awake with another sip of gas station coffee while regretting last night’s choices. Thankfully no one else aside from an alpha couple that buys chips and soda comes in. As soon as it hits noon, Chanyeol clocks out and leaves, waving goodbye to Jaebum, the beta attendant come to take his place.

With a sigh, Chanyeol waits at the bus stop, zipping up his hoodie all the way to the top. It’s colder than usual for October and Chanyeol almost wishes he had someone waiting for him at home to snuggle up against for warmth. Luckily, hot chocolate is way better than that and there’s a café right across the street. After getting a large hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and waiting an extra fifteen minutes for the next bus, Chanyeol finds himself seated towards the back of the bus. It’s fairly empty and Chanyeol can enjoy sitting by himself, hopefully for the next thirty minutes.

Chanyeol rests his head against the window as soon as the bus takes off once again, quietly sipping on his hot chocolate when there’s a smooth patch of road. He then closes his eyes and wonders how much longer he’ll be working at a gas station.

Not that he doesn’t like his job, it’s just Chanyeol knows that even as an omega his life was meant to have more meaning than taking money for gas or handing over keys for random wolves to use the restroom. He did graduate university after all. But even then, his degree in creative literature seems pointless when he doesn’t know what to do with it or if he even wants to pursue anything in that field at all. Maybe that’s why he’s been working odd jobs since he graduated a year ago in hopes that something will stick and he’ll be happy doing something that he loves. Chanyeol huffs, wishing he didn’t have a passion for so many things at once. It’s a miracle he graduated university when there’re so much to learn in a variety of fields.

The bus comes to a stop and no one gets off, but a few more passengers board. And of course, as life would have it, Chanyeol only gets six and a half minutes of peace to himself when he sees an alpha and beta together—probably friends—whispering and pointing in his direction. Their eyes are on Chanyeol the entire walk down the bus. The beta seats himself in front of Chanyeol while the alpha takes the seat directly behind him. He’s positive their seating was intentional and it makes Chanyeol uncomfortable and puts him on edge. So Chanyeol takes out his earphones and plugs them into his phone, praying the music will keep him calm and the earphones will let anyone know he doesn’t want to be disturbed.

The ride remains uneventful for a while until there’s about fifteen minutes to go of his journey and Chanyeol feels his earphone being tugged out of his left ear and a tap to his shoulder. He turns to see the alpha smirk all smug and slimy. Chanyeol rolls his eyes. Of course it’s the alpha that moves first.

The alpha then folds his arms across the empty space of the back of Chanyeol’s seat and opens his mouth to say, “Didn’t know tall omegas like you existed. If I hadn’t smelt your sweet scent, I would’ve thought you were an alpha.” Chanyeol tries not to scoff as the alpha rests his head on his own folded arms. “So tell me, what’s a pretty omega like you doing traveling alone?”

The beta in front snickers and turns around; Chanyeol’s heart begins to beat a little faster. “Yeah, tell us,” the beta starts. “It’s not safe to go out by yourself when you’re so close to your heat, ya know?”

 _Well fuck._ Chanyeol hadn’t noticed—he completely forgot—that his heat was due in a day or two. Thank the gods it’s still early enough where he still has clear control over himself, mentally at least.

The beta then leans in, reaches out and grasps Chanyeol’s chin by the tips of his fingers. Chanyeol forgets to breathe as the beta says, voice low, “I could practically smell you from the outside. I don’t even know how the bus driver stopped himself from having his way with you.” He grins, creepily so, as he snarls, “You smell fucking delicious.”

Chanyeol opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. He wants to tell them to leave him alone, to let him enjoy his bus ride home in peace, but he can’t. The only thing he can do is grip onto his hot chocolate cup even tighter than before so his hands will stop shaking.

The alpha then growls at his friend, “Too strong Kyu,” yet his hand rubs across Chanyeol’s shoulder in what Chanyeol assumes is an attempt of comfort. It’s not. “How about you let us drop you off at your place, hm? We could stay over and hang out too.” The alpha shifts to sit directly behind Chanyeol, both hands on his shoulders now. He whispers, “You’re alone, right? Or else we wouldn’t be able to smell how sweet you are. I’m sure you’ll need an alpha to help you with your heat.”

“C’mon babe,” the beta says. “You know you want us to help you out.”

“My pal over here can stretch you out first so you can be ready to take my knot. How does that sound?” _Fucking horrible,_ Chanyeol thinks but doesn’t dare voice out loud. “You and I both know you just want to get stuffed full. Don’t you, sweetheart? Don’t worry; I’m sure you’ll love my knot.”

Chanyeol’s lack of response should give them the hint that he doesn’t want a dick let alone a knot anywhere near his body. And Chanyeol knows they won’t give up until he gives in or finds an escape. Chanyeol clutches down on his hot chocolate, hating that they just won’t leave him alone. He should be able to sit in peace pre-heat without any worries. He hates that the few other passengers have said nothing when they should be able to sense his distress by now. He hates that his only option is to try and text Seulgi or Baekhyun to walk him home for protection. But as much as he hates it, Chanyeol takes out his phone, turning the brightness all the way down, and shakily starts typing a text to both Seulgi and Baekhyun.

“Who you texting? Huh?” the beta questions as he peers down at Chanyeol’s phone. “Trying to get some of your omega friends to join us?”

Chanyeol tries his best to ignore, but it’s hard and even typing one word out is a struggle.

“You must really want my knot all to yourself,” the alpha says and then begins sniffing Chanyeol’s neck, up to his ear, and squeezes down on his shoulders. “Look at you, such a sweet omega.”

Chanyeol barely looks at his phone when he quickly types out the remainder of his message and hits send. He just prays Seulgi or Baekhyun can understand that he needs them right now. Then Chanyeol is jerked out of whatever thought he was going to have next when he feels the bus stop. He immediately stands and makes his way towards the front of the bus and finds a new seat.

Unsurprisingly, the alpha and beta move right along with him and plop themselves into the seat directly behind Chanyeol. He looks at his surroundings and knows he only has about ten more minutes to make it through. Ten more agonizing minutes of the alpha and beta speaking to him. Chanyeol downs the rest of his drink and holds on to his empty cup. Maybe if he prays to the gods for silence, it’ll come.

It doesn’t.

The alpha and beta don’t touch him, probably only because the bus fills out more now, but they continue to whisper crude words, speaking of heats and knots and being stuffed with more than one dick. It makes Chanyeol sick to his stomach, the feeling of having to throw up filling his senses. But Chanyeol bites his tongue and bears with it, even if he wants to get up and run.

Even when Chanyeol sees the bus approach where he usually gets off at, the wolves are still whispering vulgarities. As soon as the bus comes to a complete stop, Chanyeol jumps out his seat and almost forgets to scan his card on the way out. He can feel eyes watching him as he exits and turns to see the alpha and beta out of their seats, staring directly at him. Thankfully, Chanyeol can see Seulgi walking towards him and nearly runs into her. Thank the Gods he doesn’t.

“Hey,” Chanyeol greets all too cheerfully. “Let’s go!” he half-shouts as he cups Seulgi’s hand with his own. A feeling of relief washes over him.

Seulgi doesn’t say anything, only glances back which makes Chanyeol mimic the action. He sees the alpha and beta from the bus, but they don’t seem to be following as they head in the other direction, possibly have given up on pursuing him. He glances over to see Seulgi’s nose twitch as she sniffs the air, but she doesn’t say a thing as she pulls Chanyeol forward. Chanyeol smiles and swings his arm with Seulgi’s as they walk.

“So, are you going to tell me why I had to leave the office to come get you?” Seulgi asks, calm tone to her words.

“I wanted company,” Chanyeol lies. He’d rather not go into detail anyway. “And it’s a plus that you work right across the street from my stop.”

“Chanyeol, your hand is shaking,” Seulgi points out. “You don’t have to tell me what happened, but did it involve that alpha and beta? I can smell that alpha on you.”

“Yeah,” he answers quietly but speaks no further.

“Baekhyun already said he was busy. What if I wasn’t able to get you today?” Chanyeol shrugs; he shouldn’t be thinking of what could have beens. “This isn’t the first time you’ve encountered rude alphas so close to your heat. You’ve dealt with them far too often even when you’re not.”

“I kind of like my job and I don’t mind taking—” Chanyeol starts but doesn’t finish. Taking the bus has been hell. He rephrases his words to, “I like keeping my jobs for at least three months,” even though he hasn’t stuck to that for a few of them.

“It’s been two months too long already,” she sighs. “Junmyeon was telling me his school needs a secretary; theirs just retired.” _Oh. Changes are good,_ Chanyeol immediately thinks. Being a gas station attendant was kind of boring anyway, especially since he could only work morning shifts. “Plus the school is kind of out of the way so you’d need a ride there anyway. We don’t live that far from you so it wouldn’t be any trouble.”

“I think I could try it,” Chanyeol mumbles. It’ll be his seventh job within the year but there’s nothing wrong with having a bunch of different skill sets.

“Great. I’ll ask Junmyeon for the job details and let you know what he says.”

Chanyeol hums and they continue on their walk until they reach Chanyeol’s apartment complex, specifically housing mated wolves and single omegas only. It takes a trip up to the eleventh floor for Chanyeol to press the key code into his door lock and finally be home. Rest is the first thing that comes to mind, but he hears Seulgi trailing after him after he steps inside and takes off his shoes.

“Why are you taking off your shoes?” Chanyeol asks as he glances back and enters further into his apartment.

“Because I’m staying over,” Seulgi answers. “I’ll call in, but first take off your hoodie and leave it by the door. I’ll toss it later.” Chanyeol’s not too sure if she should be taking off work for a wolf that isn’t her omega, but Seulgi _is_ an alpha so it wouldn’t matter either way. Her working at an omega specific law firm is a plus as well. Knowing her, she probably told the higher ups her omega friend was in trouble and they let her go instantly.

“I like that hoodie,” Chanyeol says, remembering how Sehun had gifted it to him a few holidays ago. Yet he still throws the garment to the floor.

“I’ll replace it, same brand and all.” Seulgi tiptoes to ruffle Chanyeol’s hair and drags him over to the couch. She lies down first, opening her arms after she’s settled for Chanyeol to join. Chanyeol crawls into her embrace and once he’s situated, Seulgi yanks the blanket that hangs on the back of the couch to drape over them both. “Want to watch TV?”

Chanyeol hums and finds comfort in the way Seulgi strokes his hair. Her honey scent mixed with Junmyeon’s lemon puts him at ease, almost making him forget earlier, easily making him fall fast asleep. Hours later, he wakes in the same position with a dozed off Seulgi clinging to him. Chanyeol carefully peels Seulgi’s arms off of him to sit up and flick through the channels. About fifteen minutes later, Seulgi wakes and sits up right along with Chanyeol.

“Feeling better?” Seulgi asks as she stands and stretches with a yawn. Chanyeol nods. “What do you want to eat?”

“Jjamppong?” Chanyeol answers, questioning tone in his voice. “Is that okay?”

“Of course,” she yawns. “There’s one near work that delivers. I’ll be in the kitchen making us tea.”

Chanyeol gives her a tiny smile before Seulgi is walking off to the kitchen. Once she’s completely out of sight, Chanyeol groans and flops down onto his side. He’s more than thankful and super grateful that Seulgi is trying to cheer him up, but the fact that she even senses she has to drives him crazy. He’s not defenseless, no, but it sure does feel like he is when he has to depend on an alpha friend for the most basic things. And he knows all his friends would do is tell him to find a nice, dependable alpha or beta to mate with, but it’s the last thing he wants or needs right now. Chanyeol grimaces at the thought and sighs, telling himself that it’s okay to depend on friends when he needs them and they’re willing to help.

In no time, Seulgi returns with tea and not long after the intercom is buzzing, letting them know their food has arrived. Seulgi takes care of the bill despite Chanyeol’s protests of offering to pay as a thank you. Chanyeol pouts the entire time Seulgi sets their food properly on the coffee table and even for the first few bites of his meal. But Chanyeol can’t be too upset when he knows Seulgi just wants him to relax and not worry for the rest of the day.

Long after the food is cleaned from their bowls and they’ve moved on to a second cup of tea, the incident from earlier is almost forgotten. The TV and Seulgi’s company keeps Chanyeol’s mind occupied. They’re in the middle of debating which hopeful chef made the best cake resembling a shark when Chanyeol hears his door unlock and sees both Sehun and Baekhyun stepping inside.

“Why is Seulgi here?” Baekhyun asks as he stands in the doorway. Chanyeol sees Baekhyun’s nose twitch for a second before his eyes land on the discarded hoodie. Sehun bends down to the ground to give the clothing a quick sniff before handing it over to Baekhyun. Chanyeol’s stomach drops, hating that the stupid alpha from earlier is now the focus of his friends’ attention. Sehun and Baekhyun share a glance before Sehun starts removing his own shirt.

“That’s our business,” Seulgi says quietly yet no less dominating. Chanyeol glances over to Baekhyun and for once the alpha bites his tongue, probably not wanting to get into a fight—verbal or physical—with another alpha and his mate present. She continues, “Want to watch that scary movie I told you about? Oh and Junmyeon said he’ll be here later to help you out.”

Chanyeol nods and snuggles closer into Seulgi’s side as Sehun comes to join them on the couch, quickly shifting to his wolf after his clothes are neatly set on the coffee table. Sehun barrels into Chanyeol, rubbing his head against Chanyeol’s arm until Chanyeol lifts his arm high enough for Sehun to crawl into his lap. Chanyeol admires just how beautiful and elegant Sehun’s wolf is, reminding him of the upcoming winter.

“What’s wrong?” Chanyeol asks, frowning, when Baekhyun continues to stay in the doorway.

“I’m heading out. Sehun’s staying ‘til I get back,” Baekhyun states before leaving, taking Chanyeol’s discarded hoodie with him.

“What’s wrong with him,” Chanyeol mumbles to himself.

“He’s obviously going to find that alpha,” Seulgi says. “And then he’ll come back here and lecture you about needing a mate.”

“I don’t need one just because all of you are bonded,” Chanyeol huffs. “I still haven’t figured out what I want in life. A mate would just complicate that.”

“If you say so,” Seulgi says and drops the subject. She’ll probably join Baekhyun and Sehun in telling him he needs to find a mate as soon as possible later anyway. She probably wanted to earlier anyway but kept her lips shut. “I bet the omega with the green hair will win.”

“Yeah, if she doesn’t screw up the next cake. It looks ten times harder,” Chanyeol comments, effectively getting back into the show.

Chanyeol’s eyes start to droop and his head starts to bob as he tries to stay awake, wanting to see who wins the ultimate pie bake off. They’ve been watching the same show for the last few hours and now Chanyeol is _tired._ Sehun is already fast asleep and Chanyeol hopes today is the day his friend realizes staying up until dawn is in no one’s best interest. He blinks hard and opens his eyes wide, but Chanyeol’s body betrays him and he drifts off, so close to fully being in a deep sleep until Sehun suddenly jerks up and his head collides with Chanyeol’s chin.

“Sehun,” Chanyeol grumbles as he rubs his chin. Sehun licks Chanyeol’s face just once as a quick apology and then his eyes stay glued to the door. And Chanyeol understands Sehun’s sudden alertness when his door opens and Baekhyun walks through empty handed. He hears a soft whine from Sehun and then really looks at Baekhyun, noticing that his face is a bit dirty and he’s now sporting a busted lip.

“He won’t be bothering omegas anymore,” Baekhyun says as he shrugs off his jacket and hangs it on the coat rack. “At least not for a good while.”

“What did you do?” Chanyeol questions as soon as Baekhyun seats himself on the floor in front by Sehun’s head, facing him. Sehun immediately starts licking his face.

“Talked to him,” Baekhyun stutters out with a smile. “I think I’m good babe.” Chanyeol doubts there was just talking involved, but easily lets it go. “His beta friend was actually the one who busted my lip. He was a lot tougher than that alpha.” Sehun then slides off the couch into Baekhyun’s lap and curls into his mate as best he can given his large size.

“You kind of smell like them,” Chanyeol points out and his nose scrunches. “Go wash up.”

“Sorry. C’mon Sehun, up,” Baekhyun says and gently pushes at Sehun’s side; his mate hardly budges. “I’ll borrow your clothes.”

“You live right down the hall.”

“Sehun’s throwing them out.”

“That’s a bit dramatic. They didn’t do anything to you.”

“They, at the very least, upset _you_ ,” Baekhyun says and Sehun finally moves for Baekhyun to stand. “I love you, Yeol, so let us take care of you until you can find a mate.”

“Planning to ditch me after I do?”

“No, but you’ll understand that your priorities change when you are bonded. We can’t be here all the time for you. Today shows that, doesn’t it?”

From that, Chanyeol assumes the reason why Baekhyun didn’t come to walk him home had to do with Sehun. “Not really. I just ran into a pesky alpha and beta and it was nothing,” Chanyeol brushes off. “I would have been fine.”

“Chanyeol, your heat is about to start; I doubt you would have been if it weren’t in the early stages,” Baekhyun states and then adds to further his point, “You’ll be burning up by the end of the night.”

“Having a mate would at least stop most alphas from bothering you,” Seulgi says, jumping in on the conversation. “It happened with Junmyeon and I’m sure Sehun.” Baekhyun hums to confirm her words. “You got lucky that I wasn’t needed much at the office today.”

“I shouldn’t have to have a mate just for them to leave me alone,” Chanyeol sighs, lips turning downward. He expected Baekhyun to say something, but not Seulgi to join in when they kind of already discussed this earlier. He doesn’t need them ganging up on him, especially when he likes to keep himself as relaxed as possible before his heat starts. “I just want to go to work or shop or eat in peace.”

“I know it’s unfair, but at least have a single alpha or beta buddy to use their scent on you.” Seulgi then pulls Chanyeol into her side and hugs him. It doesn’t feel as comforting as before rather more stifling than anything else. Chanyeol hates these types of days and where the conversation always leads.

“I don’t want that. I just want to be unattached Chanyeol. Just me without any claim just for show,” he pouts. Frustrated, he gets out a single, “I—” and nothing more when there’s a knock at his door.

“It’s Junmyeon,” Seulgi says. “Go let him in Baekhyun.”

Surprisingly, Baekhyun listens without any trouble and answers the door for Junmyeon. The omega is all smiles and greets everyone with a wave until his eyes land on Chanyeol and the awkward hug Seulgi has him in. He studies Chanyeol intensely before his eyes matches his mate’s. Chanyeol doesn’t know what kind of connection mates share, but with one glare from Junmyeon, Seulgi releases her hold on Chanyeol. Then as soon as Junmyeon has his jacket and shoes off, he dashes straight towards Chanyeol, eyes shining a dark blue.

“Why’s he upset?” Junmyeon asks, pulling him away from Seulgi and into his own arms towards the other end of the couch to sit. “What’d you do?” he asks speaking more directly to his mate. Chanyeol is a little taken aback, but welcomes being in Junmyeon’s arms. He then repositions himself so he lays flat, head pillowed on Junmyeon’s lap.

“Nothing, baby,” Seulgi laughs off. “Calm down. We’re just talking about how having a mate would benefit Chanyeol.”

Junmyeon scowls, eyes still a deep blue. “You know as well as I do, _the both of you_ ,” Junmyeon starts as he looks between Seulgi and Baekhyun, “that having a mate doesn’t stop unwanted attention. Now stop making him sad.”

“He’s not—” Baekhyun starts but instantly stops when Sehun lets out a low growl. “I’ll be quiet,” he quickly states. “I’m using your shower.”

Chanyeol hums, not bothering with reminding Baekhyun once again that he lives right down the hall. But then Sehun would probably leave and right now his presence and warmth is very much needed as Sehun climbs back on the couch and lies right over Chanyeol.

“I really don’t want a mate,” Chanyeol whispers to himself, but he knows everyone else can hear. Junmyeon starts to comb through Chanyeol’s hair with his fingers.

The topic of Chanyeol being mateless seems to die as Junmyeon begins to tell Chanyeol of the school he works at and what he remembers hearing and seeing their _soon-to-be retired_ secretary doing on a daily basis. It sounds like a nice and cozy job, much better than being a gas station attendant and something he could see himself doing long-term. Learning about a potential job is far more interesting that hearing his friends repeat for the nth time that he needs to find a mate and Chanyeol hopes it’s the last time he has to deal with it for a good while.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently Chanyeol’s friends minus Junmyeon don’t listen or have bad memories because the next several weeks are interesting to say the least.

Meeting potential mates type of interesting.

It shouldn’t surprise him really; after all, they’ve been trying to set him up with countless wolves since he graduated university. But they should know after the alpha-beta incident that he’d want to steer clear of any wolves. And yet it doesn’t stop them. But Chanyeol agrees _only_ because it means free meals and maybe decent sex if he likes them enough.

The first one is an alpha named Taejoon. It’s the weekend and Chanyeol sits at a coffee shop sipping on hot chocolate until an alpha approaches him and introduces himself as Sehun’s friend. Chanyeol allows him to join him at the table after a quick confirmation text from Sehun and Chanyeol sending a slew of curses to his friend for giving a stranger his location without prior knowledge. And they sit and chat and Chanyeol enjoys Taejoon’s knowledge on classic films and novels. It’s refreshing and fun to learn so much on a date and afterwards Taejoon drives them around Seoul until he asks Chanyeol to come over to his place. Chanyeol hasn’t had a proper fuck in a while, but the last few songs Taejoon has selected give away signs that Taejoon is planning for his knot to be put to good use. So Chanyeol politely declines and lets himself out of the car and takes an omega cab home where Sehun is waiting for him to spill everything. By the end of his story, Sehun is shaking his head tells Chanyeol it’s okay because alphas aren’t everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alphas aren’t everything so Chanyeol should have expected the next wolf he meets is a nice beta. Taewoo introduces himself to Chanyeol as a friend of Baekhyun’s when he’s in the middle of a conversation with Junmyeon about Mrs. Kim, the secretary he replaced, just outside the school. Taewoo says he goes by the name Kasper and is a university buddy of Baekhyun’s. It’s a bit hard to pronounce and Kasper comments on how he can give _‘personal lessons’_ on English pronunciation. It gives Chanyeol goosebumps yet he still stays to watch the dance class Taewoo so happens to teach at the school both Junmyeon and Chanyeol work at. If Junmyeon hadn’t given the okay on Taewoo, Chanyeol would have ran in the other direction because really, who meets a stranger outside their job and expects a wolf, an omega at that, to trust them blindly? Chanyeol at least met Taejoon in a public area with Sehun’s approval.

But Chanyeol gives it a shot and there’s nothing in particular that stands out about Taewoo; he’s nice and his dancing is decent enough and he’s good with kids, but there’s zero attraction. Chanyeol’s sure they could be friends, but nothing more. So after dinner Chanyeol bids Taewoo— _Kasper_ —goodbye with no intentions of meeting him again and calls Junmyeon to pick him up. Junmyeon tells him that fate always has a way of finding the perfect mate so there’s no need to worry and he should just focus on himself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chanyeol wishes Sehun and Baekhyun would think like Junmyeon because _‘maybe Kasper wasn’t the right beta,’_ and now he’s using another weekend for a date. Minkyu is handsome and pretty tall, just ever so slightly shorter than Chanyeol, and takes him to a musical instrument store. It has Chanyeol beaming from ear to ear as he goes to test the acoustic guitars first before he’s distracted by a drum set and then the electric guitars. He nearly forgets that Minkyu is there until he asks him if he’s hungry. Lunch goes well and the dakgalbi is amazing and conversation is kept throughout, but it’s the same as Taejoon and Taewoo—Chanyeol feels nothing. No sparks, no butterflies. Nothing. When Chanyeol takes a taxi, he shoots Junmyeon a quick text and heads to Seulgi’s place instead of his own. But as life would have it, Baekhyun and Sehun are there smiling and waiting thanks to Junmyeon. All three apparently ran into each other at the grocery store and decided to hang out, especially after hearing Chanyeol would be stopping by. So Chanyeol tells them of his day and tries to hint as best as possible that he’s tired of dates and betas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now, looking back, Chanyeol should have also hinted he was sick of alphas too. Once again, an unknown wolf comes to pick him up from work on a Friday and seeing him up close, Chanyeol begins to wonder if his friends think he’s only attracted to tall wolves. He introduces himself as Jiho and he’s an underground rapper of some sorts and a friend of Seulgi’s this time. Chanyeol thinks he’s heard of one of his songs from his university days—something about tough cookies or something and some controversy that came with it. He drives them to some rundown parking lot in Hongdae that has Chanyeol a bit scared until he sees a mixed group of wolves waiting for them. He’s then led to a club where it’s dark and smells of alcohol and sex. Jiho makes him sit in the VIP lounge as he gets ready for his set and it’s cool, but kind of lonely until Hyuna, another omega, comes to keep him company.

It isn’t until an hour later that Jiho—or Zico as he’s known by—performs and Jiho really knows how to captivate a crow with how he has them rapping, slurring along to every word with an enthusiasm Chanyeol’s never witnessed before. It almost has him completely entranced long after the concert is over as he lets Jiho wrap an arm around his waist and hold him close until Chanyeol notices he isn’t the only omega getting Jiho’s attention. They flock to him one after the other when they’re supposed to be on a one-on-one date and Jiho welcomes the attention, the touches, the scents that linger and it puts Chanyeol off. By the end of the night, Chanyeol can’t even smell himself on Jiho through all the different smells despite being wrapped around him for hours.

Despite that, Chanyeol lets Jiho inside of his apartment and then to his bedroom only because his wolf is telling him he just needs to let go and have fun. Jiho actually being interesting may have also helped. He doesn’t let Jiho knot him, but it doesn’t seem to ruin the mood and Chanyeol doesn’t even remember how many times he comes. The next morning Chanyeol feels absolutely boneless and checks his phone and sees a new message from an unknown number.

_Had fun last night, but not looking for a relationship. Friends? — Jiho_

Thank the gods.

Chanyeol sends a dancing bear and _‘sure’_ in return.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the not so successful dates, Chanyeol is positive his friends will let up for a while and not pressure him into meeting another wolf. He hasn’t heard Sehun or Baekhyun or Seulgi even mention him needing a mate or at least another wolf’s scent on him for a few weeks. He’s sure that doing the bare minimum of at least finding a friend in Jiho has them sated for now. Slipping in and out of Jiho’s apartment a few times may also have something to do with it, but Chanyeol ignores that fact.

It also has Chanyeol in a better mood after being yelled at over the phone by a parent complaining about their child’s grades. He tried to explain that he was just a secretary, but could set up a meeting with the teacher. Of course the parent wasn’t having any of Chanyeol’s “excuses,” and continued to yell at him.

“It happens sometimes,” Junmyeon says, at least that’s what Chanyeol thinks he says when Junmyeon talks with a mouthful of noodles from his mul-naengmyeon. He swallows his food then continues, “Parents can be the worst when it comes to their kids.”

“And you’re the teacher between us,” Chanyeol says and adds a bit more mustard to his bowl. “If I’m dealing with this, I don’t want to know what you’ve gone through.”

“Well it isn’t an everyday thing thank goodness,” Junmyeon laughs. “But you just learn to deal with it and brush off when a parent is unreasonable.”

“Yeah, but it’s annoying. Plus the VP is driving me crazy about making a flyer for the winter fair. I think I’ve made like ten different designs by now.”

“He’s a stubborn perfectionist. You’ll end up making ten more by the time he picks one and it’ll be one of the first you made.”

Chanyeol senses a headache coming on and groans. “Gods I hope not. He’s—oh there’s Baekhyun and Sehun. About time.” Their friends were supposed to meet them thirty minutes ago for lunch and after twenty minutes of waiting and their stomachs growling, Chanyeol and Junmyeon decided to order without the pair.

“Hey, you started eating without us,” Sehun complains with his bottom lip jutting out and takes the seat next to Junmyeon. Baekhyun sits across from his mate and next to Chanyeol.

“Hey, you were late,” Chanyeol mocks. “We were—ow.” Baekhyun interrupts his thoughts with a smack to the back of his head. “Why’d you hit me?” Now it’s Chanyeol’s turn to whimper.

“Don’t copy Sehun,” Baekhyun simply answers. Chanyeol squints and shakes his head at how overprotective Baekhyun can be; Junmyeon gives him a look of sympathy as Sehun gloats with a smirk. After Baekhyun and Sehun give their orders to the aunty running the naengmyeon shop, Baekhyun starts with, “So Chanyeol, your dates a while back didn’t go so well,” dragging out each word. “And we think you should try a dating app,” Baekhyun proposes, words soft.

“I’m not included in this,” Junmyeon quickly states before the conversation goes any further.

Chanyeol sighs, wondering just how far his friends are willing to go to find him a mate. “No,” Chanyeol says and continues to eat his naengmyeon.

“Come on. At least use it for hookups,” Sehun suggests. “You can’t get pregnant unless you’re in heat so there’s no harm.”

“Nah,” Chanyeol waves off. “The few nights with Jiho have me good for at least five years,” he exaggerates.

“You did what with Jiho now?” Baekhyun asks, slapping his hand down on the table. Sehun takes Baekhyun’s hand into his own and kisses it; Chanyeol rolls his eyes. “No wonder you used his clothes as an excuse of why his scent was heavy on you. Anyway, just use it for hookups that could lead to finding a mate since Jiho is only a fuckbuddy apparently. I thought you two were slowly getting to know each other.”

“No,” Chanyeol huffs.

“Just think about it?” Sehun pesters and then pokes Junmyeon on his arm, eyeing his food. Junmyeon feeds him first and Sehun continues, “We just want you to be happy.”

“No,” Chanyeol repeats. “I’m already happy.”

“We want you to be _happier._ Is that better?”

“Yes Sehun, it is, but it’s still a no.” Chanyeol sticks his tongue out at his friend. When Baekhyun tries to elbow Chanyeol in his side, Chanyeol easily avoids contact by slouching over to his far left, already expecting Baekhyun to do something for being too playful with his mate. Chanyeol doesn’t get it considering he jokes the same way with everyone, but maybe it’s a weird mated alpha thing. “He’s not going to break from a little teasing,” he comments offhandedly.

“We’re mates,” is all Baekhyun says in return. “But the app? Please try it?” Baekhyun then wraps an arm leans into Chanyeol”s side all smiles. “So?”

“You’re cute, but it’s still a no.” Baekhyun pouts. “Fine, but this isn’t over.”

Chanyeol sighs, knowing Baekhyun is right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chanyeol finishes scrambling the eggs mixed with veggies and sausage as Sehun pours them both orange juice and then takes two plates from the dish rack. Usually Chanyeol would just grab a granola bar and then get coffee with Junmyeon before work, but Sehun is staying over for the week while Baekhyun spends time at home working out some kind of deal with his parents.

“I think they’re tired of him not being physically at the office unless it’s for an important meeting,” Sehun says and plates the bread from the toaster as Chanyeol does the same for the eggs. Chanyeol carries their food to the table and they both sit. “I don’t think he’ll be able to avoid moving back once I’m done with school.”

“You two always figure something out,” Chanyeol says in return and drinks a bit of his juice before he begins to eat. “This isn’t the first time they want him back in Busan.”

Sehun lets out a heavy sigh. “Yeah. My doctors and friends are all here. _His_ life is here, but they’re so stubborn. He left for a reason.”

“Are they still threatening to cut him off?” Chanyeol asks, recalling the countless times his parents have attempted to guilt him into coming back home with money on the line since he graduated.

“Yup. Which is why we’re trying to get pregnant before I graduate. They won’t if they’re expecting a grandchild. That problem would at least be solved. We’re still trying to figure out the not moving to Busan thing, but I think a pup would keep us grounded for a while.”

“Ah. But will you be able to do that before you graduate? We only get four heats in a year.” Chanyeol follows up with, instantly regretting the question when Sehun’s eyes darken to emerald from the usual brown and tears form at the corners.

“I have my next one this December and we’re—it’s—I don’t know,” Sehun says, mumbling the last of his words. He doesn’t speak any further for the next few minutes and Chanyeol doesn’t force him to and just watches as his friend quietly eats. When Sehun does start up conversation again, his voice is low, nearly inaudible, and his eyes won’t meet Chanyeol’s as he gets out, “We’re hoping the drug treatments work ASAP, but my doctor said it’ll probably take a few heats before I get pregnant since I just started them.”

Chanyeol hums and then reaches across the table for Sehun’s forkless hand. “Sorry if I upset you,” he apologizes. “I know it’s hard on you, on Baekhyun. I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

“It’s okay,” Sehun half-smiles. “Talking about it sometimes to other wolves aside from Baekhyun helps. Now come sit by me.” Chanyeol scoots his plate and cup over first then himself. Sehun rests his head on Chanyeol’s shoulder. “We’ll be okay. I found this app where other omegas are going through the same thing and can bond over it.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah.” Sehun sits up and Chanyeol begins to feed him.

“Maybe you and Baekhyun should go to a shrine and speak to the gods?” he suggests, knowing his friends do believe in the Moon, Sun, and stars. “When I did freelance writing I met a guy who said he’d been wanting a promotion for five years, went to a shrine and did the whole ritual and _boom._ Next week a promotion.”

“You’re silly,” Sehun laughs, making Chanyeol happy he could lighten the mood a bit. “But I’ll bring it up to Baekhyun and see what he thinks. And kind of off topic, the dating app.”

Chanyeol drops Sehun’s fork onto his plate. “Oh no. We’re not talking about this again,” he says shaking his head.

“We are,” Sehun flatly states and eats the rest of his toast to continue with, “Talking about pregnancy made me sad. Now, let’s talk.”

And well, he can’t deny Sehun after mistakenly bringing up his fertility issue. “Fine.”

“I want you to be happy with a nice wolf like I am with Baekhyun.”

“I can do that later. Why now?”

“Because. We’re all getting mated and Junmyeon has talked about wanting pups a lot recently.” Sehun finishes off his juice and takes his dishes and Chanyeol’s plate over to the sink to wash them. “I’m eighty-five percent sure Joohyun and Sooyoung are going to mate soon and start popping out kids since Joohyun is alpha dominant.” Chanyeol gets up to pour himself another cup of orange juice. While he’d be happy of his friends finally stopped dancing around each other and bonded, he’s sure he’s heard both of them say something about not wanting any kids for a good while. “Plus our kids should all be around the same age which is why you need a mate.”

“It’s okay if my pups end up a bit younger. Your kids can be like their big brothers and sisters.”

“I had a goal when we became best friends and I stopped hating you.”

 _Knew it!_ Chanyeol always had an inkling Sehun didn’t like him for a good while when they finally first met, mostly having to do with him being so close to Baekhyun. “Our goals are completely different. I need to figure out what I want first. A mate comes second.”

“Chanyeol, you’ve been through a million jobs by now. What if you don’t know what you really want until you’re forty?”

“I’ll find a mate at forty? Or adopt?”

Sehun groans. “Just try the app? It won’t hurt.”

“I don’t want to put my life in the hands of alpha and beta strangers.”

“Or you could use it to find a friend,” Sehun pushes. “They wouldn’t be a stranger then. And who knows what could happen after.”

“A friend? Really?”

“Yes. There are apps like that.” Sehun turns away from the sink to face Chanyeol. “We’re not really around much anymore so I think more friends would also be useful too. And you can’t keep stealing Jiho’s clothes forever.” Chanyeol wouldn’t call it stealing Jiho’s clothes, but more often than not he ends up randomly at Jiho’s apartment and Jiho doesn’t mind giving him fresh clothes. In any case, he’ll let Sehun think what he wants. “And last week proves it doesn’t always help.” Chanyeol would like to forget about the very persistent beta who insisted on not only carrying his groceries, but attempted to follow him to his bus stop until an alpha teacher from his school slowed down her car and offered Chanyeol a ride home. “Just try it?”

“I’ll think about it,” he half-heartedly means.

“Thinking about it means no,” Sehun moans as he pushes lightly at Chanyeol’s arm.

“I didn’t say no,” he points out even though he’s not fully sure if he’ll even _think_ about using the app.

“You’re not saying yes,” Sehun counters. “Chanyeol, you know Baekhyun and I just want you to be happy, right? I want you to feel the way I do about Baekhyun with another wolf.”

“I know—” Chanyeol starts but doesn’t finish as he glances over to the clock on the microwave. He’ll be late if he doesn’t leave soon. “We need to go or I’ll be late.”

“But the app?” Sehun questions about for what feels like the nth time. Chanyeol rolls his eyes and heads out of the kitchen and to the front door; Sehun naturally follows. “Park Chanyeol. Yeol. Yeolie. Loey. Answer me.”

Chanyeol slips on his shoes and throws on his coat carelessly before giving Sehun his attention. “I will _genuinely_ think about using a dating app. Is that good enough?” he huffs.

Sehun nods quickly as he puts up both hands. “Calm down. I promise it won’t be too bad.”

“Sure, sure,” he waves off and zips up his coat then Sehun’s. “Let’s go or else I’m going to get yelled at.”

Sehun drives Chanyeol to work instead of the usual Junmyeon thanks to a dentist appointment their friend was having this morning and thus would be going to work later. Then Chanyeol spends his morning sending e-mails reminding staff of upcoming events and setting up meetings between particular teachers and the principal. When lunchtime rolls around, Junmyeon steps into the main office motioning for Chanyeol to come with. They end up at a small kimbap shop where they order two cheese kimbap, one original, and kimchi jjigae.

After the server leaves, Junmyeon asks, “So how was your morning without me?”

“Oh fine,” Chanyeol answers. “Sehun brought up the dating app again. Said they want me to be happy.”

“I’d try it,” Junmyeon says with a shrug. “Can’t be too bad.”

“You would?” Chanyeol asks, surprise filling his short words.

“If I had Baekhyun and Sehun hounding me like you do, yeah I would,” he laughs. “It’ll keep them off your back. And you could always lie about meeting some random alpha. Just keep the app on your phone.”

Chanyeol’s sure he loves Junmyeon a whole lot more than Baekhyun and Sehun and even Seulgi right now. “That’s smart.”

“I’m not a teacher for nothing.”

In between their continued conversation of random topics, trying out the app doesn’t leave Chanyeol’s mind. It isn’t the worst thing his friends have suggested and it does beat having to meet any wolves in person. And Junmyeon is right—he could lie about the bare minimum of talking to an alpha or beta. It would make Sehun and Baekhyun and Seulgi happy to think that there’s an attempt at finding a mate and it would earn him much needed peace about the whole thing.

It’s not a bad idea at all.

“I guess I could try it out,” Chanyeol says rather absentmindedly when he and Junmyeon are leaving the restaurant. “Did you want to eat sushi for dinner?”

“Sure,” Junmyeon agrees with a grin. “Want to ask Sehun and make it an omega dinner? And Sooyoung if she’s not busy?”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol nods as he pulls out his phone. He quickly texts Sehun, _omega date night - sushi for dinner? Myeon’s gonna ask Sooyoung to join too._ It only takes Chanyeol getting into Junmyeon’s car and buckling his seatbelt for Sehun to respond back with a simple heart emoji.

When they arrive back at the school, Chanyeol reluctantly sends Sehun, _i don’t want to see any kind of gloating from you or baekhyun, but i’ll try….it,_ and doesn’t check his phone for the remainder of the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There isn’t a single word that leaves Sehun’s lips about the dating app for the next week. It’s strange and has Chanyeol incredibly curious over why his friend hasn’t mentioned dating and mates. But it’s a much needed relief from those types of talks and the thought of his friends bothering him doesn’t cross his mind.

Not until he walks through his apartment door after dinner with Sooyoung and sees Sehun and Baekhyun all too comfortably sitting on his couch. _Why are they here?_ He thought with Baekhyun coming home last night his friends would be too busy skipping work and classes to have sex.

“Are they helping with New Year Festival shopping too?” Sooyoung asks and hands over her coat for Chanyeol to hang up. He still sees little flakes of snow and dusts it off a bit before placing it on the same hook where Sooyoung hung her hat and scarf. “Chanyeol’s helping me with gift ideas for Joohyun,” she announces to Baekhyun and Sehun.

“What are you getting me?” Sehun asks and sits up properly so Sooyoung can sit.

“Nothing,” she teases, sticking out her tongue. Sehun whimpers and begins to poke her arm. “It’s a secret as always.” Sehun huffs, but doesn’t ask any further.

Once Chanyeol is done hanging his own belongings up, he joins his friends and sits on the floor right in front of Baekhyun and asks, “Really, what are you two doing here?”

“Sehun told me you agreed to the app,” Baekhyun smirks and Chanyeol wishes he could erase it off his face.

 _Oh boy._ “I did,” Chanyeol admits but in hindsight he wishes he hadn’t with the way his friends eye him intently. “But,” he drags out, “it might be a distraction. This whole secretary thing is working out and I should focus—”

“Nope!” Sehun cuts him off with. “You’re not escaping this. You’ve rejected every wolf we’ve set you up with except Jiho and even then all you two do is fuck with no thoughts of settling down.”

“Who’s Jiho?” Sooyoung asks. “And what’s this whole app business about?”

“Cute alpha. Is an underground rapper,” Sehun answers. “And we finally convinced Chanyeol to agree to use a dating app. We want him to be happy and mated.”

“I’m not mated. Where are all the cute betas for me?”

“You have Joohyun,” Baekhyun chimes in with.

Sooyoung pouts. “I’ll never have a mate if I keep waiting. Set me up.”

“We’ll work with you two later. Finish school first.”

“Uh, your mate still hasn’t finished undergrad,” she says as she squints at Baekhyun.

“We’ve known each other since elementary. But we’re getting distracted. You want to mate; Chanyeol doesn’t. He needs help first.”

“Fine, fine.”

“Only problem is we don’t know what app to use. There’re too many.”

“Use Forelskape. A friend of mine found their omega on it. It’s apparently the best,” Sooyoung suggests. “And Chanyeol, baby, honey, my favorite omega,” she starts as she slips to the floor to latch onto Chanyeol, “I can still use your bath as promised?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Chanyeol says, almost forgetting that he agreed to let her soak in his tub due to a new workout routine that was harder than she originally thought it would be. “There should be bath bombs in the hall closet too if you want.”

“You’re the best!” she cheers as she kisses Chanyeol on the cheek and stands. “And sign him up for Forelskape now so I can see if I’ll use it when I’m done.” Sooyoung then starts walking away presumably to the bathroom, stripping out of her clothes along the way.

“Well, you heard her. Give me your phone,” Baekhyun commands and reaches out his hand. With a sigh, Chanyeol does so. Too bad Baekhyun already knows he wouldn’t download the app on his own. Baekhyun then pulls Chanyeol up onto the couch so he can sit between him and Sehun. Chanyeol looks down at his own phone to see the app already installing.

“You know, the dates weren’t so bad. Almost like they got better with each one,” Chanyeol says as they wait. “Maybe we could go back to that?”

“Too late,” Sehun yawns. “You’d just end up having nothing to do with them or strictly fucking them. This way you can get to know a wolf as friends first. We want you to make friends first.”

“So they can become a mate,” Chanyeol points out.

“Focus on the friend thing first,” Baekhyun says. “It’s done. Now run it.” He tosses the phone on to Chanyeol’s lap.

Chanyeol picks up his phone, taking a few seconds to look at the flowery icon before pressing it. The screen flashes black before a white background pops up and in a bright pink text the words, _Find euphoria. Find your true love here,_ appear with rose petals falling down the screen. It’s a bit too romantic for his tastes and hopes he doesn’t meet anyone too serious about wanting a mate. He’s then greeted by a welcome screen explaining how Forelskape lets you talk with alphas, betas, and omegas from all over the world. It even lets the user know the distance between them and what they call connections, aka another wolf. A tutorial then displays and Chanyeol skims and skips right through it, figuring a dating app can’t be too hard to figure out. He then signs up with his e-mail and gives the basic info of age, birthday, aspect, and quick display name of loeyeolie before he’s allowed to really set up his profile.

“Woo, just signing up took a lot out of me. I think I’ll—” Chanyeol starts as he attempts to stands but both his friends push him back down onto the couch. “Oof. That was unnecessary.”

“You’re sitting here until you’re done,” Baekhyun says and Sehun hums in agreement. “Now, finish your profile so you can start meeting cute alphas and betas.”

“Or omegas,” Sehun helpfully adds.

“Yeah, yeah,” Chanyeol grumbles and gets to work.

Chanyeol snaps a quick pic of himself holding a V-sign against his cheek and sets it as his default picture. He then uploads a few more—one of him drinking coffee, another of him looking at the stars; the last is him with an acoustic guitar in his lap—just for variety. He doesn’t bother with the remaining seven slots that any wolf would be able to see once they’re mutually connected. For his bio, he quickly types in a long, _‘hi there! :D i’m yeol! i’m 25 years old and i currently work as a secretary (before that, i was a gas station attendant!). i live in the city right now, but i used to live in little ‘ol cheongdo. i’m not sure how this app works, but i hope i get to make new friends! ^^ if you’re too shy to talk to me, maybe we can talk about things we like? i like music, movies, and am currently into astronomy a lot! message me so i can know what your likes are too! :).’_ He then reads over his profile just once.

“Is this good enough?” Chanyeol asks as he hands over his phone for Baekhyun and Sehun to inspect his profile. It takes a few long seconds and some quick thumb tapping for his friends to smile and nod.

“The bio is kind of childish, but it’s you and matches,” Baekhyun says and tosses Chanyeol’s phone back to him. “I put your interests in for you and made it public already. For worldwide connections. You’re only into dicks, right?”

“So soon?” Chanyeol laughs. “I thought I’d get like a day to prepare myself for any incoming messages from wolves I connect with.”

“Might as well get it over with,” Sehun says. “Now, let’s see if you have anything.”

“Oh, it hasn’t even been that long. I’m sure it’ll take—” And on cue, Chanyeol gets a notification on his phone saying seven wolves have connected with him already. “Uh, I’ll check these tomorrow.”

“Don’t be silly,” Sehun says and snatches Chanyeol’s phone away. All Chanyeol can do is rest his head on Sehun’s shoulder and groan as Sehun opens Forelskape once more. “Let’s start with the first one—knotndae97. He’s ten miles away. Well, it’s an alpha. Like him?”

 _An alpha with a not so pleasant name._ Chanyeol glances through his three public photos and all this “Dae” has are pics of him shirtless and nothing more. He reads over the short bio _—looking to knot the perfect omega—_ and decides it’s a no.

“Don’t connect with him,” Chanyeol says. Sehun hits the broken heart sign and moves on to the next wolf. KnotInYou33 is a definite no when Chanyeol swipes through his pics and sees an ugly dick attached to a decently sized, but still ugly knot. He doesn’t have to say a word for Sehun to hit the broken heart. The next five wolves—three alphas and two betas—all have some kind of indecent word in their display name with bios to match and their pics are nothing but shots of their bodies. Or dick like the beta Chanyeol glances at now.

“His dick is nice?” Sehun says in efforts to be positive.

“It’s a bit small,” Chanyeol sighs. “I thought this app was going to be somewhat decent with the frilly flowers and all.”

“Wolves are wolves no matter where you are,” Baekhyun comments as he stands. “Put _‘big dicks and thick knots only’_ in his bio.”

“No!” Chanyeol shrieks with horror and grabs his phone because he knows Sehun would do it without question. “I don’t need that there. This is only for making friends anyway,” he says holding his phone to his chest with both hands. Sehun and Baekhyun both laugh. “Don’t you two need to sleep or fuck or whatever it is mates do?”

“We could fuck,” Baekhyun says thoughtfully as he eyes Sehun and his eyes flash a quick, dull pink. “But we need to make sure you’re going in the right direction with this first. I can order pizza and we’ll have a second dinner. That okay, babe?”

“Yeah,” Sehun hums. “We can fuck later and I can skip my philosophy class tomorrow morning if we’re too tired. Mr. Kim is so old and boring.”

“But haven’t you missed each other?” Chanyeol asks innocently. He knows they haven’t had sex since Baekhyun got back and deep down they care a lot more about that than his own love life. “Sehun, you said Baekhyun was too tired to do anything last night and you say tomorrow but what if the both of you are too tired tomorrow morning?” Sehun and Baekhyun both glance at each other. “Then you’ll just sleep the morning away because you were too busy helping me. And you know Sehun can’t afford to miss his global history class in the afternoon and you’ll have to wait until tomorrow evening for sex if Baekhyun isn’t exhausted from staring at his computer all afternoon because of work.” Chanyeol eyes them carefully hoping his mini spiel on their sex life works. They don’t say anything so Chanyeol continues, “As his alpha haven’t you missed him? How Sehun feels underneath you and the way he moans when—”

“Chanyeol’s right,” Baekhyun interrupts as he stands, pulling Sehun with him. Chanyeol doesn’t miss the way Baekhyun’s eyes glaze a bright, vibrant rose now. Sehun’s eyes match with his own emerald color to them. “Let’s go.” Baekhyun then proceeds to pull Sehun out of the apartment in a haste without a goodbye.

Guess it pays to know their schedules and habits.

Chanyeol gets up, stretching his limbs and goes to check on Sooyoung. He opens the bathroom door to see her on her phone as she soaks. Chanyeol walks over to sit on the edge.

“They left to go fuck,” Chanyeol states and swirls his finger around in the dark, purplish water, making him think of the stars.

“Oh? Not surprising,” Sooyoung chuckles and leans back. “How was the app?”

“Lots of dicks and knots and shirtless men,” he answers. “Thought it’d be nicer from looks alone.”

Sooyoung scoffs. “Dating apps are all the same; you got to go through all the trash before you find gold. Too bad you aren’t interested in women. I bet they’re a lot nicer. I’d date you.”

Chanyeol laughs. “You don’t even like men.”

“True,” she giggles. “So gift ideas? I want something that screams, _‘Joohyun please claim me.’_ Y’know, like that.”

“Uh, outside of outright saying you want to be mates, lingerie? Those little moon crystals only mates get together to offer Her for blessings?”

“I tried the moon crystals once for her birthday. Said she’d keep them until she could use them.”

“Hm. Then offer yourself? Like tie a nice golden bow around yourself and see if it works.” She rolls her eyes and splashes water on Chanyeol. “I’m serious! You two have had this _thing_ for the last two years and if this doesn’t work I don’t know what will.”

“Isn’t it a bit tasteless for me to do that? Omegas should—”

“Do what they want,” he cuts her off with. “If we did what was expected we’d both have a mate by now. Just try it? And if it doesn’t work we’ll spend the entire holiday cheering you up. Whatever you say goes!”

“Promise?” Sooyoung then holds out her pinky finger. Chanyeol links his own with hers.

“Promise,” he smiles and they press their thumbs together to seal the deal. “Now let’s think of what to gift everyone else.”

Thinking of gifts ends up meaning Sooyoung and Chanyeol watching rom-coms for the remainder of the night until Sooyoung gets a call from Joohyun telling her to hurry home. Chanyeol gives her an all knowing smile accompanied with wiggling eyebrows. Sooyoung playfully hits him on his chest before leaving. He figures they’ll decide what to get all their friends for the week long holiday another day. Chanyeol then readies himself for bed and as soon as he’s underneath the sheets, he checks his phone.

There are a few texts from friends but way too many notifications from Forelskape. He begrudgingly opens the app and sees one too many wolves want to make a connection. _For a friend,_ he tells himself. Most live within a reasonable distance, but most also have vulgar names and Chanyeol knew this would be a bad idea and yet he let himself believe he could make one friend just to get his current ones off his back. He presses the broken heart for every single one and places his phone on the nightstand. Chanyeol sighs when not even a minute later he gets a notification from Forelskape again.

This time, an alpha with the display name eggplanton9000 wants to make a connection. He’s sure eggplant means dick, but who knows; this could be the friend he’s looking for. Chanyeol takes a chance and clicks on the red, shining heart and hopes for the best.

Chanyeol gets the worst.

After a quick hi to each other and the alpha introducing himself as Tae, Chanyeol receives countless pictures of Tae’s dick, knot fully formed, and a million messages of how he looks like such a sweet and docile omega. It turns Chanyeol completely off and he immediately blocks him. Chanyeol whines; making one decent friend shouldn’t be hard. He decides that he’s seen enough dicks for the day and turns off notifications for it and will try again maybe tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or the next day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or the one after that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forelskape is completely forgotten by the third day. Chanyeol’s seen a lifetime’s worth of knots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today goes by too slowly for Chanyeol’s liking. Maybe he should anticipate Jiho’s next concert this weekend a little less and then maybe time could speed up a bit. Or maybe it’s because work feels a little lonely without Junmyeon around and everything seems to go by at a snail’s pace with his usual routine interrupted. Junmyeon just had to go and get sick. In any case, everything has a drag to it that makes Chanyeol restless.

So Chanyeol decides to check his phone to occupy his mind. There are only ten minutes left of work and by being the only one left in the office, there’s no one to reprimand him for slacking off. He glances over his apps and Forelskape immediately sticks out for some reason. He scrunches his face with a snort yet still opens it anyway.

_It’s out of pure boredom._

To the shock of no one, Chanyeol finds that he’s been connected with three betas, one omega, and six alphas. Chanyeol goes to the omega’s profile first. They’re cute and Chanyeol reads over their bio— _soft omega waiting for their true love. but knots will do just fine until then._ Chanyeol presses the heart anyway and sends a quick, _not an alpha, but want to be friends?_

Chanyeol is blocked a few minutes later. What’s the point of being able to connect with other omegas if they’re not interested? Chanyeol guesses that omega hasn’t fully gone over their profile yet.

Next are the betas. Two have indecent names and those are instant heartbreaks. The third, however, only lives about twenty miles away and goes by kasper0524. That seems fairly normal. He swipes through all three photos and none of them show the beta’s face, just his back and what appears to be some ad for a studio on the hoodie they wear. Chanyeol hits the heart anyway and goes through the rest of the photos and quickly blocks the beta. Kasper0524 is Taewoo. The beta who offered English lessons in a lewd manner. Of course he’d have this kind of luck.

Onto the alphas. Chanyeol doesn’t connect with any of them from display name alone.

He then pockets his phone and shuts down his computer and makes sure he isn’t leaving anything behind on the way out. He makes sure his coat is zipped and buttoned all the way up and messily puts his hat on as he steps outside and heads to the bus stop.

There isn’t much of a wait as Chanyeol stands in the cold for a mere three minutes before scanning his card and sitting towards the front of the bus. It’s a bit crowded and Chanyeol is thankfully surrounded by a few omegas. The alphas seem to be gathered near the back for whatever reason. Chanyeol pulls out his phone and checks Instagram where hardly any new content has been posted aside from Junmyeon hovering over a bowl of soup and a blurry pic of Sehun. Chanyeol exits out and is about to see if there are any new mobile games worth playing when he accidentally presses on Forelskape. He lets the app run out of pure curiosity for new alphas and betas to not connect with.

There’s one. Another alpha.

Chanyeol huffs, but at least this one, this zyxzjs, doesn’t have a gross name and going through his three pics, he seems okay. Chanyeol takes a good hard look at his profile pic—him in a fluffy white sweater holding up a V-sign right over his eye—before reading his very short bio of, _somewhere in china; always in the studio,_ written in Chinese, English, and Korean. Or at least he thinks it all means the same going by the English he can pick out and understand. The alpha seems normal and Chanyeol sighs in relief, but there is one issue.

This alpha lives all the way in China. A whole six hundred and seventy-three miles between them and Chanyeol had hoped if they became good enough friends that they could meet one day. But from the pics he’s able to see—the alpha playing a piano, another of him cooking, and the last of just him with a pout on his face—he really does appear decent enough.

But China.

But he could be fluent in Korean.

But China.

Chanyeol connects them anyway. This was supposed to be for meeting new friends anyway and zyxzjs has already connected with him so that is a good sign. He’s a little shocked when he doesn’t get a hello or unsolicited dick pic right away and so he sends the first message of a simple hello in Korean and waits for a response. In the meantime, Chanyeol looks over zyxzjs’s profile since he can see more of it now. The alpha has his name listed as yx and there’s a few more pics—one with a cat and another with three dogs and another of a grape meme? It makes Chanyeol laugh though the last was probably uploaded by mistake. Zyxzjs also resides in Beijing and is interested in betas and omegas only. It doesn’t specify whether he keeps it to just guys or girls both, but Chanyeol assumes if he’s like most alphas, it won’t matter. It’s been long enough and Chanyeol still hasn’t gotten a reply, but that’s probably a good sign and maybe this alpha could be the one friend he needs for his other friends to back off about his lack of a love life. He closes the app.

Not fearing any danger, Chanyeol pops his earphones and listens to music the entire ride home. And even when he gets home and checks Forelskape, Chanyeol sees that zyxzjs still hasn’t replied. _Weird._ It’s not until Chanyeol is doing a final round on all SNS accounts before bed that he opens Forelskape to see a new message from zyxzjs. It’s as simple as Chanyeol’s hello—a short hi—and nothing more. It was sent just a few minutes ago so Chanyeol quickly types out a, _hey. i’m new to this whole app. is it okay for us to be friends,_ and hits send. He then turns back on notifications for Forelskape and sets his account to private. He reads an article on new images of Jupiter in wait of a reply but receives nothing. He tucks himself under the covers. He’ll just have to wait until tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It takes two whole days and an uneventful morning for Chanyeol to get a notification for a new message on Forelskape to pop up. Honestly Chanyeol had forgotten about the app once again, already having given up on finding a wolf decent enough to talk to, but he checks to see if it’s a glitch or something and to his surprise it’s from that zyxzjs guy. It’s a simple, _hey, how are you,_ in Korean and nothing more. That doesn’t answer the friend question, but Chanyeol’s sure he wouldn’t have gotten a response if he wasn’t open to the idea. There’s no harm in responding back so Chanyeol shoots back a quick, _good, just busy. you?,_ before getting back to his spaghetti lunch.

“You’re smiling,” Junmyeon observes. “What happened?”

Chanyeol hands Junmyeon a napkin and points to the corner of his mouth so he can wipe away the alfredo sauce covering it. “Oh, I think I finally found a friend on that Forelskape app,” Chanyeol then answers. “Hopefully our friends will back off now.”

“Really? No dick pics yet?” Junmyeon asks.

 _“None,”_ he beams. It’s a miracle, almost too good to be true, so Chanyeol wouldn’t be caught off guard if one day he woke up to a picture of zyxzjs’s dick. “I think he’s cool. We’ve only talked like twice, but he seems kind of busy. He took forever to reply.”

“The longer he takes to reply the longer you can stretch out the whole app situation.”

Chanyeol nods thoughtfully. “True. But it would be nice y’know? Someone who’s unmated and maybe could understand me a little more.”

“Sooyoung and Joohyun not enough? What about that alpha Jiho?”

“They are, but if New Year’s Festival goes well I’ll be the only one left unmated,” he answers then goes on to barely explain over a mouthful of spaghetti, “Jiho’s more of a sex buddy than friend.” He goes to Jiho’s shows, sure, but after they fuck and sometimes they don’t. Their relationship hasn’t once extended outside of that.

“Huh,” Junmyeon sighs and rests his head on his palm once he props his elbow on the table. “And Seulgi was just saying the other day she thought you two could work out.”

“If I didn’t mind a cheating alpha maybe,” he laughs. He can’t imagine Jiho going through a bond until _years_ from now. “But don’t worry. I want a mate, just not now. I’m not ready.”

“And that’s fine. But enough about your love life? There’s something we _really_ need to talk about.” Chanyeol nods hesitantly as Junmyeon’s face turns a little too serious for Chanyeol’s liking. _This can’t be good._ It feels like forever when Junmyeon takes his time spinning his pasta around his fork and chewing it just as slow. He takes a sip of water before saying, “They just announced the dates for Seoul’s anime expo. We’re going and I’m not giving you a choice to say no.”

“As if I would,” Chanyeol playfully scoffs and breathes out a sigh of relief. He had forgotten how Junmyeon can turn serious over the simplest things. It’s endearing. “I want to dress as Luffy.”

“I haven’t even thought of who to go as. There’re too many options,” Junmyeon gets out, high pitched tone to his voice.

Several options for who Junmyeon could cosplay as come to mind. After spending the next forty-five minutes finishing their pastas and going into detail of the pros and cons of cosplay ideas, they head back to school. Chanyeol spends the rest of work wondering if Luffy is the right choice to dress as or of another character would be a better option instead of focusing on his job. Luckily the bulk of his work was due in the morning and he can take it easy.

By the time work ends, Junmyeon stops by to take Chanyeol home, but the omega declines in favor of gift shopping in a more secluded area of Seoul. It’s only a ten minute walk from the school and he really needs to get gifts before the holiday arrives. He would have asked Baekhyun and Sehun to go over the weekend, but taking care of a heat is more important.

So Chanyeol carefully walks to his destination, thinking the city could have done a better job at salting the sidewalks until he reaches his first stop, a bookstore. He doesn’t spend much time there, already knowing to get Junmyeon a few anime themed bookmarks and the last two volumes of his favorite manhwa series. Junmyeon had been complaining lately about all his funds going to his Baby Jar. Chanyeol wonders for a brief second if his friend will get pregnant during his next heat. He then grabs three nicely decorated art books for Seulgi, pays for the items, and leaves. Next he ventures into a small clothing shop to pick out some oversized sweaters for Baekhyun while getting Sehun more form fitting ones. He thinks on whether he and Jiho are good enough friends for New Year gifts and guesses they kind of are. He gets a black baseball cap and if Jiho doesn’t get him anything, he’ll keep it for himself. Finally, he goes to another clothing store to get Joohyun and Sooyoung matching socks and boots.

Chanyeol whistles to himself as he makes his way to the taxi stop. He stands in line behind two couples and a single beta when he notices a small, homey looking café across the street. He’s never seen it before and he’s positive that spot used to be taken by a fried chicken shop. Curiosity gets the best of him and Chanyeol leaves the taxi line to run across the street to the new café. Upon closer look, Chanyeol sees that it’s more of a bakery than a haven for coffee addicts and steps inside.

Warm is the first word that comes to mind when Chanyeol’s eyes rake in everything about the new business. The display is filled with all kinds of sweets from breads to cupcakes to brownies to cookies to tarts and so much more. There’s a large, open refrigerator that sits towards the center of the bakery with various kinds of cold sandwiches and drinks. Off to the side is a small eating area with seven round tables, three chairs each. And then above the counter is a large chalkboard menu mounted to the wall showing prices of items as well offering smoothies and hot beverages. It’s all too fascinating and Chanyeol can’t help but be in awe and wonder what kind of wolves own this place and what it’s like to work here.

“Welcome to Oasis,” a young beta male greets, taking Chanyeol out of his thoughts. He’s cute, Chanyeol thinks with his wide eyes and heart-shaped lips. Also taken, Chanyeol assumes from the beta’s scent not being that strong. “What can I help you with today?”

“Oh, I might be going crazy, but didn’t this used to be a fried chicken place?” Chanyeol asks, noticing the blue and yellow color scheme throughout the bakery. “I don’t remember this being here, but I’m in this neighborhood a lot.”

“Boiled chicken actually,” answers a much softer voice. A young woman—a beta too, Chanyeol notes—appears from the back kitchen area, flour stained on her cheek. She looks just about the same age as the beta guy, maybe slightly younger. “Used to be my grandparents’ place and then they retired. We decided to run it as a bakery instead.” She then looks over to the beta guy so fondly and he returns her smile. Mates. “We opened up about a month ago.”

“A month? Wow. I must have been blind,” Chanyeol laughs as he eyes the display full of sweets. He then glances up to the menu. “So is it just you two working here? And can I get a white hot chocolate.”

“I’ll make it,” the beta girl says. “You answer his questions,” she says to her mate. “He seems interested in this place.”

As she starts on his drink, the beta guy comes to stand behind the display, directly in front of Chanyeol. He then says, “There was another wolf, but they didn’t work out so we’re still looking if you’re actually interested. I’m Kyungsoo by the way. Co-owner.” Chanyeol’s mouth forms a small ‘o.’ Chanyeol can cook, but baking? It’s an art he’s never even attempted. “That’s my mate Jihyun.”

“Ah. I could tell. You both smell like peppermint and lavender,” Chanyeol comments. “But I’ve never baked before. I only know how to cook. I was a cook in my mom’s restaurant every summer.”

“If you’re willing to learn, we’ll teach you.”

“Really?” Chanyeol asks a bit too excitedly. He’s never attempted to bake, but it’s never too late to start. “Wait, I have a job.” The disappointment on Kyungsoo’s face isn’t missed. “But I don’t know if I like it all that much,” Chanyeol rushes out. “And I really only took it to avoid the bus and my friend told me I should and—I’ll stop by often.”

“You’re interesting,” is all Kyungsoo says with a tiny grin. “Did you want anything else?” He points to the display.

“Uh, lemon muffin? And six chocolate chip cookies. And pizza bread,” he pauses looking over the display one last time. “And four brownies, the ones without nuts.”

“You must like sweets,” Jihyun says as she sets Chanyeol’s hot chocolate onto the counter.

“I do,” Chanyeol replies. “I’m going to start bringing my friend here for lunch.”

“That would be nice. And maybe you can ask Kyungsoo more questions,” she says as she rings up Chanyeol’s order. Kyungsoo comes over with a pale pink box. “That’ll be twenty thousand won.”

Chanyeol slides his card and then places his box of sweets into one of his shopping bags. “I’ll see you two soon!” Chanyeol shouts as he leaves.

This time, there’s no wait as he takes an omega cab home. When he arrives, Chanyeol dumps all the gifts into his bedroom closet. He’ll wrap them nicely later. He then takes his box of sweets into the kitchen to enjoy, but not before warming up his now cold hot chocolate. He sits down at the table and bites into his muffin first and Chanyeol thinks he knows what a bit of heaven must feel like. The treat is _delicious_ and he’s definitely going back to Oasis soon, tomorrow if possible. It makes Chanyeol wonder how can they make such a wonderful sweet and he all too happily thinks about working there. His current job wouldn’t be the first that he quit; the only setback is that he might disappoint Junmyeon with quitting so early on. But it’s not like he’s completely in love with being a secretary, but who knows. Things could change.

To distract himself from mulling over his job situation, Chanyeol takes out his phone and opens Forelskape. He doesn’t know zyxzjs well at all, but it would be nice to have an outside perspective on his life choices. He knows his friends would tell him to keep pushing with being a secretary with it being a more stable job. Chanyeol opens the app and just as he’s about to start typing a message from zyxzjs pops up. _Ah, same. just in the studio working,_ it reads. This is his chance for a fast reply! Chanyeol hastily sends back, _studio??? what do you do?,_ and waits.

It takes Yixing just a minute to reply. _Success._

 

 **zyxzjs [6:16PM]**  
_music producer_  
_but focusing on just writing music lately_  
_you?_

 

 **loeyeolie [6:16PM]**  
_wow cool. uh, not cool like your job, but secretary for now_

 

 **zyxzjs [6:18PM]**  
_for now?_

 

 **loeyeolie [6:18PM]**  
_i’m still figuring myself out._

 

 **zyxzjs [6:18PM]**  
_ah._

 

Chanyeol can’t believe he’s having an actual conversation with an alpha and he’s pretty decent. Chanyeol takes a quick sip of his hot chocolate and goes to the fridge to pull out the chicken breasts from the bottom. He places it in the sink and resumes his chat with zyxzjs.

 

 **loeyeolie [6:21PM]**  
_hey uh, is it cool that i just randomly message you? we can be friends right?_

 

 **zyxzjs [6:23PM]**  
_sure! i wasn’t looking for a relationship anyway_  
_my friends kinda forced me to do this._

 

That’s interesting. Chanyeol wonders what else they have weirdly in common.

 

 **loeyeolie [6:23PM**  
_really?! mine too!! said i needed to find an alpha to mate with_  
_i just want to find myself first before i commit to a mate you know?_

 

 **zyxzjs [6:28PM]**  
_well you found an alpha haha mine said i drown myself in work too much and_ _needed to find an omega to knot_  
_but i like working_  
_and wouldn’t be able to fully there for my mate right now_  
_the future, yeah but now, no_

 

Wow. This alpha is exactly what Chanyeol needs.

 

 **loeyeolie [6:29PM]**  
_i’m actually kind of happy for this. it feels less embarrassing this way_  
_i always thought weirdos used these apps. well, maybe they do_  
_since i got nothing but these crude messages from alphas and betas. but you’re nice_

 

 **zyxzjs [6:35PM]**  
_you might have a point_  
_my inbox is filled with omegas and betas asking me to knot them_  
_but thanks. you’re nice too_  
_i have to get back to work, but we’ll talk later?_

 

 **loeyeolie [6:35PM]**  
_yeah. have a good day!_

 

 **zyxzjs [6:38PM]**  
_you too. what’s your full name btw? i’m zhang yixing_

 

 **loeyeolie [6:39PM]**  
_teach me how to properly pronounce that one day_  
_and i’m park chanyeol_

 

Chanyeol sets down his phone, not full believing the dating app is finally working and way better than expected. A wolf in a foreign country who knows Korean? It really can’t get any more amazing and Chanyeol fully plans to use Zhang Yixing as an excuse not to find a mate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course Chanyeol’s plan has a major setback.

As much as Yixing said it was okay to message him whenever, Yixing is very unresponsive or maybe a better way to put it is that he just takes forever to respond. The one good alpha he was able to find really isn’t what he expected in a new friend. Chanyeol has sent countless messages of asking how Yixing’s day went or what he’s up to; he’s lucky if he gets more than two replies a day. It’s not Yixing’s fault that he has such a time consuming job and Chanyeol wants someone who can reply right away. Granted it’s only been a week, but the time difference isn’t that much so Yixing really could reply more often. The only good thing is that Yixing doesn’t seem bothered by the bombardment of messages Chanyeol manages to send on a daily basis.

So Chanyeol cautiously tries Forelskape again, more locally this time, and figures Yixing will just be there whenever.

The first wolf he messages is gods awful as expected and sends a dick pic, knot scarily big, as soon as Chanyeol sends hi. He quickly unconnects.

The second, Chanyeol thinks is decent enough. It’s the normal let me get to know you questions for the first few minutes. But of course things take a turn for the worse when the alpha asks for a video of Chanyeol’s ass when wet, better if taken while in heat. It makes Chanyeol shiver.

After the next several alphas playing out in similar ways, Chanyeol moves on to betas.

And unlike the first time, Chanyeol finds one that’s nice on the surface right away. This is a lot nicer, he thinks as he continues telling Minseok about the latest findings on Mars. Minseok asks him follow up questions to each thing he says. Minseok is definitely the friend he’s been looking for—responsive, attentive, engaging—he’s perfect.

Almost too perfect.

So it should come as no surprise after a few days of endless talking, there’s something off when Minseok asks can they meet up after one of his football games and Chanyeol says he wants to get to know him for a while longer and he gets a clipped response of _‘ok’_ and nothing else after. Chanyeol messages Minseok throughout the day, but gets nothing in return. He tries again the next morning only to see that he’s been blocked.

So much for perfect.

Back to Yixing it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chanyeol waves to Kyungsoo as he sets the tray carrying hot drinks and muffins down onto the table. Kyungsoo gives an awkward grin as he rings up the current customer at the counter. Chanyeol takes his seat as Junmyeon grabs his vanilla latte and cranberry muffin. Chanyeol takes his own blueberry muffin and hot chocolate and pushes the tray off to the side.

“It’s nice right?” Chanyeol asks as he starts unraveling his sandwich from the wrapper. “The owners are nice too. I like it here.” Chanyeol won’t mention he’s been to Oasis every day since he discovered the bakery.

“It is,” Junmyeon agrees. “Those cookies you brought in yesterday, I thought Ms. Cho was going to steal the whole box!”

“Oh, if no one else was around, I bet she would have. She loves sweets and gives me candy every time I have to drop something off to her class.”

“I’m going to miss her when she retires in a few years,” Junmyeon says offhandedly. “Anyway, how’d you even find this place? We don’t usually come around this area unless it’s for that bibimbap place down the road.”

“I had to do a bit of shopping for New Year’s Festival and since the shops are around here, it just happened,” he explains.

“I’m glad you did.” Their conversation ceases as they begin to eat a little of their sandwiches and muffins until Junmyeon speaks again. “But um, is there something wrong? Or are you expecting a call? You keep looking down at your phone.”

Chanyeol hadn’t noticed that. “Nothing really,” he sighs. “It’s just that yesterday I asked Yixing what he usually does on New Year’s Festival since it’s like two days away and he hasn’t replied yet.” He can feel the frown his lips form. “This friend thing is hard. I’m much better at this in real life. I should just delete the app and go on a thousand more miserable dates.”

“Stop pouting.” Chanyeol flattens his lips together. “You said Yixing was okay with you texting him whenever right?” Chanyeol shrugs then nods. “Then do just that. Some friendships take time. It isn’t like you’re aiming to be mates so what’s the rush?”

“I’ll be bored after the first day of New Year’s Festival and have no one to talk to.” It may be a week long holiday, but only the first day is spent with friends; the rest are for mates and their children and Chanyeol’s own family never celebrated it all that much so there’d really be no point in going home. And while there are rituals he could participate in as a single wolf, none of them have ever appealed to him. “I don’t know. He might be lonely too? It would have been nice just to have someone to waste time with. Jiho offered, but I don’t want to spend an entire week limping with a sore ass.”

Junmyeon outright laughs until he’s snorting and his stomach begins to cramp. “But you do the same thing every year? Joohyun and Sooyoung might not even mate. It could be another year of you three hanging out as friends.”

“Trust me, they will. If they don’t I’ll pay for your expo ticket.” Junmyeon’s eyes shine a bright blue. “That excited?”

“Yes,” he eagerly nods. “I have to be frugal these days. We’re going to try for a pup late next year. By then, we should have quite a bit saved.”

“That would be amazing. I’ll pay for half even if they do mate,” he offers.

“You’d do that?” Junmyeon’s eyes go wide.

“Yeah? I love you and I’d like the company.”

“Oh my gods. We’re naming our first kid after you.”

“I don’t know if Seulgi would agree but thanks anyway.”

Junmyeon hums. “But is being bored on holiday really it?” Chanyeol raises his brow. “I mean, Yixing, you aren’t really interested in a wolf that lives all the way in Beijing are you?”

“Gods no!” Chanyeol’s nose scrunches. Chanyeol won’t admit this out loud, but Yixing not replying also makes him want a response all the more, like he has to win the alpha over. In a friend way, of course. He just doesn’t know how to go about it other than waiting for a notification to pop up from Forelskape saying Yixing sent him a new message now that he’s decided to reply only when Yixing responds. Any other time feels pointless. “I just want someone to talk to during the holiday. That’s all. He is single and most places are closed for the week.”

“Then do as I said earlier—keep talking to him even if he says nothing back. Give me your phone.” Chanyeol does as told and wonders what Junmyeon could want with the device until he sees that his friend is taking a picture of their half-eaten lunch then moves his thumbs around to do gods knows what. “Here,” he says handing back Chanyeol’s phone.

“What did you do?” Chanyeol asks.

“I messaged Yixing,” he simply states.

“Ah,” Chanyeol hums until he starts choking on his own spit. “You did what?” he asks loud enough for Jihyun to laugh and Kyungsoo to shush him.

“Calm down. I just sent a pic of our lunch with a cute message.” Chanyeol hurriedly checks Forelskape to see the cute message of, _look what i had for lunch,_ with a bunch of smiling emojis following behind. _That’s not bad at all._ “Just send stuff like that. He’ll have to say something eventually. If not, block him and find another alpha to talk to. If there was one decent one, there’s bound to be others.”

Junmyeon’s right. This new method involves pictures instead of a thousand simple messages. He can do both. And Yixing isn’t the only alpha that exists. If it doesn’t work, he’ll move on, but for now he’ll just have to wait and see.


	2. TWO

The first day of New Year’s Festival goes by in a blur, mostly due to all his friends celebrating, drinking to the fact that Joohyun and Sooyoung are now officially dating. It’s not being mated, but Chanyeol’s sure their bonding will happen within the first months of the year. But far too much celebrating means the next day Chanyeol spends holed up in bed with a headache despite a reasonably high alcohol tolerance. He doesn’t do much for most of the day, but sometime during the afternoon he somehow manages to remember Junmyeon’s advice from the other day and sends Yixing a pic of himself wrapped in blankets asking if he knew any remedies for a hangover.

He doesn’t get an answer that day; it doesn’t bother him considering he spends the entire day in bed regretting last night. But the next morning when Chanyeol is feeling much better he sees a, _hoping you’re feeling better today,_ with a heart emoji attached as he gets the motivation to call his parents and sister to wish them a blessed New Year’s Festival. The simple message makes Chanyeol feel warm for an odd reason and he chooses to ignore it for now. It was sent over an hour ago so even if he responded now, he doubts Yixing would reply in a timely manner.

After he speaks with his family, Chanyeol gets out of bed, wondering what to do today. He can’t visit any friends since all of them aren’t single minus Jiho, but once again, he’d rather not spend the week just having sex no matter how good it could be. And most shows on TV are just reruns of programs he’s seen hundreds of times. The only thing that he does know for sure to do is a quick run at the park to let his wolf free for some much needed air. When he finishes taking a shower and eating breakfast, there’s one option he can think of—text Yixing.

And he does. First he sends, _thanks. feeling much better,_ followed by attaching a selfie and asking the question, _should i keep the silver or dye my hair for once? maybe red?,_ and waits. Chanyeol doesn’t get anything for two hours so he sends another pic of a plate of assorted fruit he quickly chopped along with a, _healthy snacking._ He still doesn’t get anything right away so instead of waiting for Yixing’s reply, he watches a home renovation show for the next five hours with his run at the park thrown in. When there still isn’t a single word from Yixing, Chanyeol groans as he slips off the couch to the floor.

 _Why do I even want to hear from you? You’re not special,_ Chanyeol thinks as he gets up and heads to his room. His next pic to Yixing ends up being the gifts he got the other day—a bunch of clothes and a cookbook from Junmyeon—and, _did your friends get you anything? mine got me these,_ along with it. It takes three hours and twenty-seven minutes to finally hear from Yixing in a spam of texts.

 

 **zyxzjs [10:36PM]**  
_is the silver natural? it’s pretty_  
_i had fruit earlier too! ^^_

 

 **zyxzjs [10:38PM]**  
_i’m eating a salad now :( it’s not good_

 

 **zyxzjs [10:39PM]**  
_i’m going to order stir fry?_

 

 **zyxzjs [10:42PM]**  
_they got me those big cds. the circle ones_  
_and clothes_

 

 **zyxzjs [10:47PM]**  
_i’m with them now _  
_most of us are mateless haha_  
_but they like to date around. not me___

 

Chanyeol wonders for a second if he should wait or reply now considering Yixing is spending New Year’s Festival with friends. The next second, Chanyeol texts back.

 

 **loeyeolie [10:48PM]**  
_it’s natural. thank you :*)_  
_i made kimchi jjigae for dinner_  
_you mean vinyl records?_  
_haha you don’t like to date? at all? what about casual hookups?_

 

It’s a lot to process so Chanyeol doesn’t mind not getting answers right away. Thankfully, it doesn’t take a whole day.

 

 **zyxzjs [10:55PM]**  
_then keep the silver. it’s pretty_  
_oh! my friend knows how to make that!_  
_yes those ^^_

 

 **zyxzjs [10:58PM]**  
_and not really. sex is fine but i don’t want to date_

 

 **loeyeolie [11:00PM]**  
_will do then haha. but red would look good on me right? or a soft pink?_  
_i bet my jjigae is better tho c:_  
_and wow. i feel the same. i think we might be friendmates yixing lol_

 

Maybe New Year Festival won’t be so bad if Yixing continues to text him back on time, Chanyeol thinks as he begins to get ready for bed. He leaves his phone on his bed, going to the bathroom to wash up and brush his teeth. When he returns, he expects some sort of follow up texts from Yixing and is disappointed when there’s nothing, only one notification with a preview of a message sent from Baekhyun. _There’s always tomorrow._ Chanyeol sighs and waits ten more minutes before he’s turning off his bedroom light and falling asleep, thoughts of getting a reply from Yixing on his mind.

Chanyeol doesn’t get anything from Yixing until the next morning as he’s sitting down at the kitchen table and finishing up his breakfast. _Sorry i didn’t say anything last night,_ it says and Chanyeol’s immediate response is, _why._ Chanyeol slumps against the table, eventually resting his head on it when Yixing, for the nth time, doesn’t say anything right away. It’s infuriating, frustrating, maddening that the one decent alpha he’s found is too busy for him and somehow, kind of wants attention from him. It feels pointless and stupid and he thought last night was progress. Chanyeol chalks it up to being an omega and liking alpha attention from time to time.

Chanyeol then spends a good ten minutes going through an Instagram dedicated to dogs before he gives up on getting a fast reply from Yixing. Which turns out to be a good thing in hindsight when Yixing’s next one comes in a little after midnight. Chanyeol doesn’t resist the urge to reply as soon as he’s done reading Yixing’s message.

 

 **zyxzjs [12:21AM]**  
_was busy in the studio_  
_found a little inspiration watching my friends flirt with each other_  
_sadly, they still aren’t together_

 

 **loeyeolie [12:23AM]**  
_nice_  
_the inspiration i mean_  
_and your friends sound like mine_  
_they were in a relationship without the title until the 1st of the year_  
_now i’m the only single one left haha_

 

And once more Chanyeol waits a few minutes for a reply that doesn’t come. So come morning, Chanyeol doesn’t bother with Forelskape and calls Jiho, asking if his offer still stands. He doesn’t think he can handle another day of movies and home improvement shows all alone. Three days of sex shouldn’t be too bad. Jiho tells him, _‘Well get over here then,’_ and well, Chanyeol does as he’s told. After showering of course.

A few hours later, Chanyeol is left trying to catch his breath as Jiho continues to fuck into him hard from behind. Chanyeol’s way too sensitive for this yet his fingers still twist into to the sheets and the moans won’t stop falling from his lips. He slumps forward, unable to hold himself up any longer, and Jiho places a hand on his lower back, forcing Chanyeol to arch a little more.

“Sure you don’t want my knot?” Jiho asks through a few grunts.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol sighs out, breathy and hoarse. “Just— _oh fuck_ —” His words get drowned out by a loud moan from his next orgasm that he bites down hard on his bottom lip. _“Hurry,”_ Chanyeol cries and squeezes tight around Jiho’s cock.

Jiho’s hands move to grip at Chanyeol’s thighs and pounds into him relentlessly. It doesn’t take much longer for Jiho to come, spilling into the condom and then collapsing on top of Chanyeol. Once Jiho stops moving his hips, Chanyeol slowly turns around so he can see the alpha properly. Jiho doesn’t waste any time and kisses Chanyeol roughly on the lips, earning a small moan from the omega.

“Please don’t get hard again,” Chanyeol says when Jiho breaks their kiss to suck even more marks onto Chanyeol’s neck. “I—everything is sensitive right now.”

Jiho smirks and runs his thumb along Chanyeol’s bottom lip. “Mouth included?” he asks, eyebrow raised. Chanyeol rolls his eyes and shoves him off to sit up. Jiho just laughs and shifts to lie on his side.

 _“Everything,”_ he enunciates slowly to get his point across. “I need a break,” he frowns.

“You staying the rest of the holiday?” Jiho asks, hand rubbing soothingly along Chanyeol’s thigh.

“If you want me to. I don’t mind.” Chanyeol didn’t plan to have sex at all, but it beats being bored at home.

“As long as I get to fuck you in the sweater I bought.” The sweater Jiho speaks of is oversized and pink and soft and Chanyeol would hate to get it dirty so soon, but oh well. Jiho then adds, “And if you don’t mind me inviting someone else over for tomorrow. For your break.”

Chanyeol doesn’t understand how Jiho’s sex drive can be so incredibly high, more so than the average alpha when he peeks down to see an already hardening dick, but it doesn’t affect him now that his ass and mouth will be getting a day’s relief. “Doesn’t matter. The company’s nice. Now feed me.”

It’s Jiho’s turn to rolls his eyes and he pats Chanyeol’s thigh before getting out of bed. “Go shower first. I’ll order something later,” he says and leaves the room.

Chanyeol gets up, knowing he’ll be able to feel a burn in his legs tomorrow. At least he gets a break before going at it with Jiho again. He heads to the bathroom with some of Jiho’s clothes and showers. After, Jiho does the same and joins him on the couch just as Chanyeol reads over a new message from Yixing. _Ah. then who do you spend the holiday with?,_ it reads. Chanyeol makes Jiho take a quick selfie with him and sends it to Yixing along with, _a cute alpha ;). he’s a friend tho too._

“Who’s that?” Jiho asks, peering down at Chanyeol’s phone.

“Oh. Some alpha in China. Talking to him will make my friends think I’m attempting to find a mate,” Chanyeol explains. “He isn’t that responsive though.”

“Just find someone else,” Jiho suggests and Chanyeol shakes his head.

“He hasn’t sent me a pic of his knot yet. He’s decent.” The random, short few minutes of conversation they have before they go back to speaking twice a day is annoying, but he wouldn’t trade them for one too many dick pics and vulgar language.

“If you say so,” he shrugs off. “Want pizza?”

“Yeah.”

After the pizza is long gone, Chanyeol does let Jiho have his way with his ass and mouth and thighs and Chanyeol is absolutely exhausted by the end of the day. He doesn’t remember when he falls asleep, but when he does, it’s more than welcomed. Too bad it only lasts until early morning because of the loud moaning he hears close by. He really needs the rest from how much his body aches. Chanyeol groans and reaches down to the floor about where he remembers dropping his phone. He sees that it’s 8AM and there’re two texts from Baekhyun asking if his holiday is going well and of course there’s nothing from Yixing. Chanyeol gives Baekhyun a simple yes in response and attempts to go back to sleep.

He can’t.

Chanyeol decides to make breakfast for himself, Jiho, and whoever this Seolhyun is. An hour later Chanyeol finds out Seolhyun is a pretty omega, _really pretty,_ and goes to Jiho’s concerts often as well. They exchange numbers and agree to be concert buddies when they can. After breakfast is done, Chanyeol doesn’t see much of Jiho or Seolhyun, but definitely hears them. He turns the TV up as loud as he can. Thank the gods it’s only for a day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 **zyxzjs [7:59AM]**  
_good morning chanyeol ^^_

 

Chanyeol almost chokes on his strawberry juice when he sees the message from Yixing. _Am I dreaming? Am I dead? Is this an alternate universe?_ Zhang Yixing texted him first after an entire day of nothing. It’s a first and Chanyeol must have imagined it. He checks his phone again and the message is still there.

Seolhyun pats him on the back. “Are you okay?” she asks and hands Chanyeol her glass of water.

“Yeah, I just—I saw something unexpected,” Chanyeol mumbles before drinking down half of Seolhyun’s water. He hands back the glass.

“Dick or knot pic?” Jiho asks and Chanyeol rolls his eyes, choosing to ignore the alpha.

“Anyway, did you still want to go to the temple together?” Seolhyun asks.

“Sure,” both Jiho and Chanyeol say in unison.

It is the last day of New Year’s Festival and it would be a waste not to at least do the last ritual—go to the temple and pray for blessings to come and make resolutions towards the future. It’s simple enough to where Chanyeol doesn’t mind participating. He usually goes with his other friends, but not a single one has replied to his text from last night yet and Jiho and Seolhyun are going right after breakfast. It makes sense to go with them now. It’s okay to break tradition once in a while.

But first, Yixing.

 

 **loeyeolie [9:22AM]**  
_:o zhang yixing texted me first_  
_are you okay?_  
_are you sick?_  
_why are you up so early?_

 

 **zyxzjs [9:25AM]**  
_lol no silly. i’m not sick_  
_and idk. it’s a good day_  
_and my friends dragged me to the temple_

 

The temple. Resolutions are made at the temple. It could be a coincidence, but Chanyeol wonders if one of Yixing’s resolutions is to be a more responsive friend. Him texting first is just _too out of the ordinary._ Only one way to find out.

 

 **loeyeolie [9:27AM]**  
_ah. i must be part of your resolutions_  
_i feel special_

 

 **zyxzjs [9:28AM]**  
_how’d you know?! :o_  
_but yes you are~^^_  
_i feel bad and i’m going to try more_  
_we’re friends!_

 

 **loeyeolie [9:29AM]**  
_i’m touched :*)_  
_and side note_  
_for an alpha you’re awfully cute_  
_the way you speak_  
_text*_

 

 **zyxzjs [9:30AM]**  
_i’m not_  
_i’m too old to be cute : <_

 

Chanyeol looks down at his phone and blinks. Rapidly. _Too old?_ Yixing is anything but and if Yixing is old that would mean he himself is old as well. Chanyeol decides to point this out.

 

 **loeyeolie [9:32AM]**  
_…..you’re only a year older than me_  
_(and yes. still cute)_

 

 **zyxzjs [9:32AM]**  
_….hm. what’s your favorite color?!_

 

Chanyeol snickers at the change in topic and goes with it.

 

 **loeyeolie [9:34AM]**  
_currently green_  
_yours?_  
_and got to get ready for the temple_  
_so my replies won’t be as fast_

 

 **zyxzjs [9:36AM]**  
_always purple_  
_favorite show?_  
_and okay. i’ll be around_  
_(and make a resolution about me too~^^)_

 

Chanyeol sets down his phone on the kitchen table to go back to Jiho’s room and get dressed. He throws on the jeans he came over in and a freshly cleaned pink sweater. He then waits on the couch for Seolhyun and Jiho to get ready. Once they do, they head out and Jiho drives them to the Grand Temple about thirty minutes away.

The parking lot is crowded and Jiho has to find a spot that equals to a ten minute walk along a dead rice field. Seolhyun complains about nearly slipping on ice and Chanyeol walks behind her as Jiho stays glued to her side just in case she almost falls. Once they reach the main gate, they shuffle along a shoveled concrete path; Jiho makes sure to hold both Chanyeol’s and Seolhyun’s hand in order to not get separated in the large crowd. Chanyeol looks ahead to see they’re still a good distance from the temple’s stairs that lead to the shrines.

“We should have gone earlier,” Seolhyun comments as she tiptoes to once over the crowd.

“We were going to, but Jiho, uh, got distracted,” Chanyeol says.

“You let him,” Seolhyun sighs. “Should have kicked him out of the shower.”

Chanyeol pulls his scarf up to cover his cheeks. “Couldn’t help it,” is all he can think to say.

“I know I’m hard to resist,” Jiho remarks and both omegas roll their eyes. “We’re getting close.” Close ends up meaning five more minutes of them scraping their feet against the ground and another two to walk up the steps. “The Sun’s shrine looks the least crowded,” Jiho points out. “Want to go there?”

Chanyeol would say the shrines of the Moon, Sun, and the various stars all look about the same, but each wolf always feels a special connection to a certain deity. The Sun must be Jiho’s. Chanyeol doesn’t really care despite his wolf saying he needs to go to Sirius. Chanyeol makes a mental note to do so later in the day.

“Doesn’t matter as long as we pray,” Seolhyun says and Chanyeol hums for agreement.

They wait behind a decent crowd of people and when it’s their turn, the three of them step up to the altar as a priest sets a single candle is set in front of them. As they continue to hold hands, Chanyeol closes his eyes, thinking hard on what exactly his prayers should be this year.

 _To the Sun and the Moon, and to Sirius, may you bless me and my friends this year. Please help me find out what I really want and need in my life._ Chanyeol pauses to think if there’s anything he’s missing and Yixing randomly comes to mind. _Oh! And please let this friend thing work out with Yixing and just please let him be nice._

Chanyeol opens his eyes to see both Jiho and Seolhyun finished praying. Together, the three of them light the candle and the priest hands them a light dish to set the candle on. Jiho grabs it to carry it to the river right behind the temple. Magically, the wind doesn’t blow it out like Chanyeol sees it do to others and they reach the river.

“May you bless us,” Jiho says as he places the candle into the river. Chanyeol and Seolhyun repeat after him.

When the candle floats down the river and is out of sight, they begin their walk silently back to Jiho’s car.

“Are you staying over or should I drop you off at home?” Jiho asks once everyone is settled into his car and he begins driving.

“I’ll stay,” Seolhyun answers.

“I’ll go home then,” Chanyeol says. “I don’t want another night of you two moaning each other’s names.”

“You could join us,” Jiho comments. “The more, the better.”

“I’m good,” Chanyeol declines. “You’re,” he pauses to think of the right words, “really rough and I’m still kind of sore.”

“That’s fine. You’ll be back anyway.”

“You’re awfully confident,” Chanyeol yawns. “But right.” The comment makes his friends laugh. Despite how rough Jiho can be, the pleasure is more than welcomed and Jiho _is_ really amazing.

The car gets noticeably quiet after that until Jiho and Seolhyun start a conversation about the next concert. They continue to talk about concerts and upcoming rappers in the underground scene until the reach Chanyeol’s apartment complex. Chanyeol bids them goodbye with a promise to see them both soon.

As soon as Chanyeol has his coat and shoes off, he dashes straight to his couch and flops down. It takes a few minutes for him to remove his hat and scarf and toss them to the ground. He then takes his phone from his pocket to see if any of his friends messaged him back. There’s one from Junmyeon apologizing and explaining how Seulgi’s parents have roped them into spending the entire holiday with them and won’t be back in time for a temple visit. Baekhyun’s text is just a simple sorry. Joohyun and Sooyoung haven’t said a thing, but Chanyeol doesn’t mind and figures they’re too wrapped up in each and their new relationship.

Chanyeol sighs, hurriedly replying to his friends before opening Forelskape, remembering he should tell Yixing he’s back. Maybe he’ll be of some entertainment since his other friends can’t.

 

 **loeyeolie [12:16PM]**  
_i’m back!_  
_and even said a prayer specifically for you~_

 

 **zyxzjs [12:18PM]**  
_hi ^^ welcome back!_  
_i’m at home for once_  
_watching a reality show_

 

 **loeyeolie [1212:19PM]**  
_cool. what show?!_

 

Chanyeol expects an instant reply, but doesn’t get one until hours later. And then Chanyeol waits three days later after that for Yixing’s next reply. Yixing’s excuse is that he was sick. Chanyeol doesn’t believe him and doubts anything will change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But change it does.

Yixing just needed a boost from the gods, Chanyeol thinks. Now he can’t even remember the last time it took an entire day—or days—to get a text from Yixing. Waiting a whole day turned into waiting for a few long hours.

The long hours turned into a few short hours.

The few short hours turned into maybe an hour, if that.

Now, Yixing replies almost instantly.

It’s a welcomed change and Chanyeol almost can’t believe how their relationship has progressed in such a few short weeks. He’s almost tempted to ask Yixing if he’s still sick, but loses the thought every time Yixing starts to cutely ramble on about a new song or something silly his friend Jongdae did while recording a demo. He actually enjoys and looks forward to every text Yixing sends. It’s nice seeing a notification pop up and Chanyeol knows he can rant about work without any snide comments or send more pics of Oasis and their delicious cupcakes for the nth time and have Yixing be just as excited as he is. Chanyeol doesn’t even care that he’s not using Yixing to avoid finding a mate anymore. The only time Chanyeol even remembers he’s supposed to be using the app to find a mate is when Sehun or Baekhyun pester him about it.

Chanyeol ignores them most of the time or brushes them off.

Like now. And all Chanyeol wanted was some peace after work.

“I don’t even know the last time I saw you without your phone,” Sehun comments as he plops down on the couch with a bowl of fruit. “Your eyes are going to hurt.”

“I’ll be fine,” Chanyeol brushes off, waving his hand in the air for a second so he can get back to telling Yixing how much of a jackass the new principal is. Almost every wolf hates him.

“Pay attention to me. I came over to see how you were and you won’t even look at me,” Sehun huffs. Chanyeol’s sure he came over because of some kind of argument with Baekhyun, but won’t push Sehun into talking about it until he’s ready.

“Yeah, yeah.” Chanyeol sets his phone down on the coffee table. “Happy?” It’s hard to ignore his phone vibrating against the table, but Sehun is right. He shouldn’t ignore a guest. Sehun nods with his lips turned downward. Chanyeol pokes them. “You have my full atten—I need to tell Yixing we can’t talk for a while.”

“Ugh, go ahead,” Sehun groans. “You’ve been different since New Year’s.”

“You think so?” Chanyeol asks even though Sehun’s words barely register. But how can they when Yixing says how lonely the next few hours will be without his cute stories. Calling the new principal every bad word in the book isn’t the least bit cute, but if Yixing says so then it must be true.

“All you do is go to work and then go to concerts with that one omega on the weekends. Are you both in some weird relationship with Jiho?”

“No.” Chanyeol then wishes he could send one of his favorite Rilakkuma stickers and huffs when he remembers Forelskape has zero cute sticker options. He sends a crying emoji in its place and sets his phone down to finally, fully pay attention to Sehun.

“Then why haven’t you gone out with an alpha from the app?” Sehun asks. “Or a beta? Omega? _Any_ wolf?”

“Don’t need to,” he shrugs. “You wanted me to make a friend and I did.”

“A friend who’d turn into a mate. Not some friend who just sits in another country.”

“I mean, it’s not impossible—” Chanyeol begins to point out, but is rudely interrupted.

“Nope,” Sehun says, head shaking and arms crossed. “I remember you saying long distance relationships were dumb.”

“I have grown.” Chanyeol then takes a few pieces of Sehun’s fruit to pop in his mouth. It isn’t entirely impossible to fall for someone in another country. If he were into Yixing like that, it’d be easy considering how sweet and caring the alpha is.

“Doubt it. Just remember to use the app for what it’s meant to do,” Sehun sighs, heavily so.

“I am. I made a friend. It’s the only reason I even used it in the first place.” Sehun opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. He really can’t argue against it. “If I go on one date with an alpha will you leave me alone for a while?” Chanyeol says. He really doesn’t know what prompts the suggestion, but if a date will keep his friends off his back, then so be it.

“You really mean that?” Sehun eyes him skeptically. Chanyeol nods. “It’s progress, I guess.” Sehun puts down an empty bowl onto the coffee table. “Can I shift? So you can rub me.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he says at first, balling his fists and placing them into his lap. He then stumbles, nearly cries through, “Baekhyun, he—we went to the doctor and I’m not—so it’s hard. I feel like he regrets our bond. We left the doctor’s and I haven’t seen him since.”

“Come here,” Chanyeol says, now facing sideways and opening his arms. Sehun easily crawls into his embrace. “First, Baekhyun is a jackass for leaving you after your appointment. Second, I don’t think for a second he ever regrets being your mate. He could have made an attempt to court me for my rejection but didn’t and I’m like one of the best ome—” Chanyeol stops speaking when he feels nails dig into his side; he hisses. “Point is, he had plenty of time to date and fuck other omegas before you got to uni with us, but he barely did. And then as soon as you came you two were attached at the hip and my eyes had seen things they wished they never had. _Multiple times._ He loves you.”

“But love isn’t enough sometimes,” he whispers. “I don’t want him to leave me for some fertile omega. If his parents knew they’d be dragging us to the temples for us to break our bond.”

“They’d literally have to drag his dead body because he’s not leaving you.” He starts rubbing Sehun’s back in comfort. “I’m sure this is hard on him too.”

“He’s not the one that can’t have kids,” Sehun groans.

“First, you _can_ have kids. _You will have them;_ it’s just a little harder,” Chanyeol says and hopes it’s encouragement enough. “Second, you’re his mate so when you’re hurting he is too.”

“Whatever. I’m going to shift.” Sehun then proceeds to get up and strip. Once done, he shifts into his wolf and Chanyeol opens his arms once more.

“Oof,” Chanyeol grumbles when Sehun settles back into him. Chanyeol pets him immediately. If Sehun doesn’t want to talk then he’ll just be a pillow for whenever he needs him.

Soon, Chanyeol hears and feels soft snores against his neck. He reaches for his phone. He’s shocked to see a text on kakao from Baekhyun first.

 

 **hyunnie [5:42PM]**  
_please tell me sehun is with you_

 

Chanyeol takes a pic of Sehun and sends it to Baekhyun.

 

 **Chanyeol [6:16PM]**  
_indeed he is. he told me what happened you ass_

 

 **hyunnie [6:16PM]**  
_…..okay so me ignoring him at first was intentional_

 

Chanyeol sends an unimpressed looking Rilakkuma.

 

 **hyunnie [6:17PM]**  
_i know. but i was just_  
_angry. not at him but just…._  
_our situation is unfair_  
_i want this as much as he does_  
_so of course i was disappointed_  
_but he needs to come home_  
_now_

 

 **Chanyeol [6:18PM]**  
_he’s napping_

 

 **hyunnie [6:18PM]**  
_well wake him up_  
_please_

 

Baekhyun then starts sending a bunch of sad stickers and ones with the characters holding hearts. Chanyeol isn’t swayed in the least. After Baekhyun is done with his sticker spam, he replies, _he thinks you don’t love him and wants to end your bond._

 

 **hyunnie [6:19PM]**  
_what??? that’s…._  
_he’s everything_  
_i fucked up more than i thought_  
_tell him to come home_

 

Chanyeol’s heart wrenches, just a bit, but he doesn’t have it in him to wake Sehun. Plus the short time away from each other is probably needed.

 

 **Chanyeol [6:20PM]**  
_just give him space_

 

 **hyunnie [6:20PM]**  
_no_  
_i don’t want to_  
_me leaving him was...stupid but_  
_i also filled the apartment with flowers and his favorite scented candles_  
_to make up for it_  
_and balloons_  
_he likes popping them_  
_and his favorite food from that one ramyun shop down the street_  
_and sweets from oasis_

 

Chanyeol smiles fondly at how cute Baekhyun is, posting various stickers to match with each text sent. But once again, he really can’t wake Sehun and can only offer advice.

 

 **Chanyeol [6:22PM]**  
_well first, blow the candles out_  
_and you can reheat the ramyeon_  
_or buy more. you’re rolling in ￦￦￦_  
_and the balloons and flowers will still be there_  
_i’ll tell you when he wakes up so you can get everything ready again_  
_and that he needs to be with you_  
_and talk to him_  
_about how much your bond means_  
_i know you’re hurting but it’s…._  
_different with him. he needs you a lot right now so don’t forget that_  
_and how much he’s probably blaming himself_  
_for not being able to give you the one thing he wants with you most_

 

 **hyunnie [6:24PM]**  
_chanyeol….._

 

Baekhyun then sends a bunch of crying emojis and stickers. Chanyeol giggles and shakes his head.

 

 **hyunnie [6:25PM]**  
_you’re my favorite omega after sehun_  
_i love you_  
_and thanks_  
_i’ll wait_

 

Chanyeol sends a few different stickers with the characters hugging and holding hearts along with an, _i love you too,_ before closing KKT. He then opens Forelskape to give live reactions to a movie that’s about to begin. Yixing sends a few messages in between Chanyeol’s reactions, calling him adorable for the most part and asking follow up questions. Sehun stirs and gets up when the second movie Chanyeol watches with Yixing this time is about halfway in. Chanyeol lets Baekhyun know his mate is up.

Sehun gets off of Chanyeol to stretch his limbs across the floor before sitting in front of Chanyeol. Sehun licks his face a few times, thanking him. Chanyeol then sits up and rubs Sehun behind his ears.

“Ready to go home?” Chanyeol asks and Sehun lets out a soft whine. “Baekhyun is waiting for you.” Sehun growls in warning this time. _Okay._ This might be harder than he thought. “He loves you.” Sehun plops himself to the ground and rolls over. Chanyeol gets up, careful not to step on his friend and sits on the floor to start rubbing Sehun’s belly. “I think you should go home.” He hears a huff. “I don’t want to spoil anything, but there’re other things in your apartment, Baekhyun aside. New things.” Sehun whines again. “He loves you and called you his everything when I told him a bit of your thoughts. He’s angry, but not towards you. Just at how unfair your situation is.” Sehun sits right up. “Home?”

Sehun runs to the door and scratches at it. Chanyeol grabs Sehun’s clothes and walks over to the door and slips on a pair of shoes. He opens the door and laughs when Sehun runs right down the hall and starts howling. Chanyeol quickly follows behind.

It takes just a few seconds for Baekhyun to open the door and Sehun to jump on him, effectively knocking them both to the ground. Chanyeol tosses Sehun’s clothes into the doorway and shuts their door for them. No one else needs to see Sehun’s bare ass. He returns to his apartment and makes himself a cup of tea and sandwich before he relocates to his bedroom to finish the movie.

And text Yixing of course.

 

 **loeyeolie [8:59PM]**  
_please tell me you were watching the last fifteen minutes_

 

 **zyxzjs [9:04PM]**  
_if i sent you a pic of myself making a heart would you forgive me?_

 

 **loeyeolie [9:06]**  
_i think i need five_

 

Chanyeol expects another text, but a few minutes later, after he thinks he’s got the gist of what’s going on in the movie, Yixing really does send him five _adorable_ selfies, each making a different kind of heart with his hands. Chanyeol tries hard to contain himself and not spam Yixing with a million heart and flower emojis.

 

 **zyxzjs [9:08PM]**  
_are these okay???_

 

Chanyeol takes a deep breath.

 

 **loeyeolie [9:09PM]**  
_YEEEESSS!!!1!!!_  
_i mean yes. calmly of course_  
_wondefl_  
_*wonderful_  
_the pics are wonderful_  
_you’re so cute_  
_and don’t deny it_

 

 **zyxzjs [9:12PM]**  
_you’re wrong_  
_but i won’t argue_  
_do you know what’s going on in the movie? c:_

 

Chanyeol laughs, thinking how can Yixing even deny he’s cute. He may be an alpha, but if omegas can be tall like him then surely cute alphas exist too. Hell, he can even use Baekhyun and Seulgi a lot of the time as proof. Chanyeol then goes on to explain how he thinks the bad guys have infiltrated the organization and are now trying to tamper with things to get their friend out of prison. Yixing thanks him and they go back and forth between giving live reactions. By the time the movie is done, they decide to watch another together. By the time that one done and they’ve talked a little more about nothing, Chanyeol is starting to feel a little sleepy and remembers that he also has work in the morning.

 

 **zyxzjs [11:11PM]**  
_but do you really want to?_

 

 **loeyeolie [11:11PM]**  
_no. i just agreed so sehun wouldn’t talk about it anymore_  
_idk why but it sounded like a good idea at the time_

 

 **zyxzjs [11:12PM]**  
_then don’t do it. it’s your life_

 

 **loeyeolie [11:14PM]**  
_lol junmyeon tells me that a lot_

 

 **zyxzjs [11:17PM]**  
_he’s a smart wolf_

 

Chanyeol can’t disagree with that and honestly, his friends are right. He wouldn’t put his all into a date. At most, they’d fuck and Jiho already exists for that when Chanyeol needs a good dick to ride.

 

 **loeyeolie [11:21PM]**  
_and the both of you are right!_  
_i won’t go look for a date on here_

 

 **zyxzjs [11:22PM]**  
_good :)_  
_do what makes you happy!_  
_even if that means being mateless for a while longer_  
_you’ll find one when the time is right_

 

Chanyeol reads the messages over a few times, grateful he has one more wolf on his side about the mate thing. He yawns and double checks the time. It’s getting late for a work night.

 

 **loeyeolie [11:25PM]**  
_true_  
_but i have to get to bed :(_  
_work and all in the morning_

 

 **zyxzjs [11:26]**  
_oh right!! good night chanyeol_

 

 **loeyeolie [11:27PM]**  
_‘night yixing_  
_don’t forget my morning text <3_

 

 **zyxzjs [11:29PM]**  
_that only happened once!_  
_you send me one tomorrow_

 

 **loeyeolie [11:30PM]**  
_it’ll be the first thing i do_

 

 **zyxzjs [11:32PM]**  
_after you open your eyes_

 

 **loeyeolie [11:32PM]**  
_…….i swear you and myeon need to meet. goodnight yixing_

 

Yixing sends a slew of hearts in reply and Chanyeol puts down his phone to get ready for bed. After he’s all settled, his phone vibrates thanks to a message from Baekhyun. _Thanks for earlier Yeol. We’re good now,_ Chanyeol reads. He sends Baekhyun a sticker of Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma hugging. He then thinks of Yixing, hoping the alpha didn’t fall asleep already. Or maybe this can wait. It really isn’t important, but he texts Yixing anyway as a reminder to himself. _Forgot to ask. do you have kakao talk,_ he sends and tries to go back to sleep. He can’t and luckily his phone vibrates eleven minutes later with a notification from Forelskape.

 

 **zyxzjs [12:04AM]**  
_oh yeah! jongin made me start using it forever ago_

 

 **loeyeolie [12:06AM]**  
_then want to delete this app and move there?_  
_i don’t plan on meeting anyone unless by pure coincidence_  
_plus i get to send cute stickers now *_*_

 

 **zyxzjs [12:08AM]**  
_sure! you’re actually the only one i talk to here so add me_  
_my ID is the same there_

 

 **loeyeolie [12:10AM]**  
_found you! hehe. see you over there!_

 

Chanyeol quickly sends Yixing a hello on kakao talk and a few seconds later, Yixing has added him as a friend.

 

 **XingXing [12:11AM]**  
_my chanyeol <3 hi^^ and googdnight  
_

 

My Chanyeol.

With a heart.

Chanyeol stares blankly at his phone. _My. Chanyeol._ Yixing has never worded his name like that before and he wonders if Yixing meant for it to sound kind of possessive. Either way, Chanyeol feels oddly giddy. He takes a few minutes to ponder over what it could mean until he realizes he should respond back to Yixing. In the same manner.

 

 **Chanyeol [12:16AM]**  
_goodnight my yixing <3_

 

Chanyeol exits out the app after Yixing sends a single heart. He tries to think nothing of it, but his mind won’t let him sleep. Maybe it means they’re getting closer as friends. He sends stuff like that to his “real life” friends all the time. It’s a good thing. Chanyeol’s so deep in thought that he’s completely startled by his phone vibrating.

 

 **XingXing [12:31AM]**  
_can’t sleep….can i call you?_

 

Chanyeol pinches himself to make sure he isn’t dreaming. Calling means talking and talking means he’ll get to hear Yixing’s voice for the first time. He immediately calls Yixing through katalk.

“Hey,” Chanyeol says, a bit shaky for one word, once the call is picked up.

 _“Chanyeol, I can’t sleep,”_ Yixing groans and Chanyeol’s head starts spinning.

_Weird._

“I know. Give me a sec,” Chanyeol rushes out. He knows he didn’t eat or do anything out of the norm today. Maybe he’s coming down with something. It takes a good minute for the lightheadedness to go away. When it does, he continues, “Sorry about that.”

_“It’s okay. I’m the one disturbing your sleep.”_

“I couldn’t sleep anyway.” Chanyeol gets out of bed and heads to the kitchen, using his phone as a light. “Did you notice how quickly I was able to call you?” he jokes.

Yixing chuckles. _“Yeah,”_ he drawls out. _“Your voice is really nice though. A lot deeper than what I expected.”_

“Really? I hear that a lot.” From looks alone, and maybe also because he’s an omega, other wolves always expect a much lighter voice than what he was blessed with.

 _“Yeah. It’s—soothing,”_ Yixing sighs in content. Chanyeol reaches the kitchen and grabs a bottle of water and heads back to his bedroom. _“You’d make a good radio host or something.”_

“I actually stayed on a few months at the radio station at my uni after I graduated. To see if I liked it.”

_“Oh? What happened?”_

“The callers got annoying,” he laughs and sits on his bed. He drinks a bit of water before continuing, “Then I found a job as a cook since I helped my mom out a lot with her restaurant. To see if I wanted to become a chef. It’s the one job I do miss.”

_“Really? I know you’ve been doubting the secretary thing but—why is that?”_

“Don’t know, really,” Chanyeol exhales, deeply. “I guess if I really thought about it, I guess I miss how happy making food makes others. And cooking of course. There’s just a certain art to it.”

 _“Then why not do it again?”_ Yixing asks, interest piqued.

“I was fired from that job because I—” Chanyeol swallows hard before answering, “My manager was an alpha and really—touchy. I put up with it for a while until I couldn’t and complained to the owner. It wasn’t even a day since I told them, but I was let go.”

 _“Chanyeol,”_ Yixing says so gently that Chanyeol’s wolf begins to feel restless from wanting comfort from Yixing specifically. He drinks more water to calm down; it only helps a little. _“I’m sorry you had to go through that.”_

“It’s okay. I mean, it’s not okay, but I’m okay,” Chanyeol stumbles through attempting to explain. “It’s in the past, but it’s tiring. Those situations, I mean. It’s why my friends want me to find a mate. Soon.”

_“You shouldn’t have to ah, make your life around being harassed.”_

“I know. Which is why I’m not going to. It’s hard, but I don’t—I’ll deal with it in my own way. But enough about this? I’m supposed to be trying to get you to sleep!” Chanyeol says, remembering the purpose of this call.

_“I don’t mind listening to you. I told you I’m always here for you. We didn’t start off that great, but we’re friends now.”_

“I know. Thank you,” Chanyeol smiles. The phone goes silent, Chanyeol not really knowing what to say until he finally does. “But um, your voice. It’s really calming and sweet.”

Yixing gives a light laugh. _“Think so?”_

Chanyeol hums. “Of course! I wouldn’t lie. Most alphas I’ve met—their voices usually demanding and authoritative. I don’t like it.”

_“But you like mine?”_

“I do. It’s a nice contrast to them and suits you,” he answers honestly. Although he won’t tell Yixing he thinks listening to his voice is also making him feel strange. “So what do you want to talk about to help you sleep?” he asks to the topic off of Yixing’s voice.

_“Anything. You said you were into astronomy in your Forelskape bio. Tell me about that.”_

“We live in the milky way galaxy, right?”

_“What’s that? Mil—milk something.”_

“Uh, you know the huge system of stars and planets and gas and other stuff that we live in,” he tries to explain. Then in English he says, “Galaxy,” thinking it’s the correct word.

_“Oh! Galaxy! I know that. Go on.”_

_Success._ “We live in a galaxy—the milky way—and there’s a halo that’s part of it, but not like we think of halos. We can’t really see it since it extends beyond what’s visible, and is made up of something called dark matter.”

 _“Wow. That’s cool,”_ Yixing says, sounding amazed.

“Are you just saying that?” Chanyeol asks just to be sure Yixing isn’t going to be bored to death by astronomy talk. Or maybe he should continue anyway. The point is to help him sleep.

 _“No. I even jotted down a lyric note because of it,”_ Yixing states in a matter of fact way. Chanyeol doesn’t know whether to take Yixing’s unattached tone serious of not. _“So tell me more,”_ Yixing says with a bit more enthusiasm in his voice. Maybe he’s getting sleepy then.

“Well….” Chanyeol then goes on to tell Yixing of what he knows about the stars and constellations and how they related to religion and astrology. Yixing’s mood seems to pick up at the mere mention of zodiac signs and goes into detail about his own and Chanyeol’s.

 _“Our signs are actually very compatible,”_ Yixing says. The comment somehow makes Chanyeol feel even more restless. He’s about to ask how, when Yixing keeps talking, _“But I think I can sleep now. I don’t want to fall asleep on you.”_

“I wouldn’t mind,” Chanyeol yawns. “It’s what friends do.”

 _“I know, but you sound tired and you have work,”_ Yixing points out. _“We should sleep.”_

“You’re right I guess,” Chanyeol grumbles. Despite being tired, he really wouldn’t mind staying up for Yixing.

 _“But before I go,”_ Yixing starts, _“Chanyeol, I’m glad I met you.”_

“Same,” Chanyeol says instantly, wishing Yixing could see how happy those words have made him. “Is it weird if I said talking to you is one of the best things about my day? I know we only talked through text until now, but still. I like it.”

 _“Chan—hold on for sec,”_ Yixing says. He thinks he hears Yixing groan then sigh. _“The studio just messaged me and said they need me in.”_

“This late?” Chanyeol asks. _Why do they need you now of all times?_ Just when he thinks Yixing was just about to say something important.

 _“Unfortunately,”_ he huffs. _“Jongdae said there’s something off about the audio and the group can’t record. They should be sleeping too, but I guess it can’t be helped.”_

“Oh okay,” Chanyeol says, disappointment clear. “We’ll talk some other time?”

_“Of course. Good night Chanyeol.”_

“Yeah,” is all Chanyeol says before there’s a brief pause and Yixing hangs up.

Chanyeol sets his phone down on the nightstand and buries himself underneath the covers. A minute later, his phone vibrates. He checks to see a message from Yixing and then a few more as he reads.

 

 **XingXing [3:17AM]**  
_sorry i had to leave especially when you said something so…._

 

 **XingXing [3:19AM]**  
_it made me blush_

 

 **XingXing [3:23AM]**  
_thank you for being so persistent when we first connected_

 

 **XingXing [3:27AM]**  
_we haven’t know each other for that long but i’m happy because of you_

 

Chanyeol sends a Kiiroitori sticker with hearts floating above his head.

Chanyeol thinks he’s blushing too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 **XingXing [9:02AM]**  
_good morning my chanyeol <3_

 

It’s early, far too early for Chanyeol to be awake at 9AM on a Saturday, but the crook in his neck and his eyes feeling like they’ve been hit with the rays of a thousand suns was well worth staying up late to talk to Yixing. It always is. Spending the nights coming home after work to a sleepy, excited, or sometimes even frustrated Yixing is something Chanyeol actually looks forward to. He knows he really should stop—they both should—and get proper rest, but hearing Yixing’s voice a few times a week is oddly calming now. After the first restless night, his wolf had relaxed and now he can talk to Yixing with ease, like he doesn’t have the urge to run straight to him.

But now, he doesn’t know how long that will last when Yixing keeps referring to him as _‘my chanyeol,’_ every single morning now. He keeps telling himself he’ll get used to it, but it has his insides twisting in an odd way and Chanyeol can’t really decipher what it means. That along with the other flirty texts Yixing’s been sending more of lately has him confused. Maybe it’s Yixing being comfortable enough to joke around with him like that.

It _has_ to be it.

As usual, Chanyeol sends his response of, _morning my yixing,_ and, _why are you not sleeping,_ and tries to go back to sleep. He tries for a few minutes until he feels his phone vibrate repeatedly next to him by his head.

 

 **XingXing [9:05AM]**  
_my chanyeol ^^_  
_i tried but now i’m at work_  
_i’ll make music instead_

 

 **Chanyeol [9:05AM]**  
_why?! go back home and sleep_

 

 **XingXing [9:07AM]**  
_i like making music_

 

Chanyeol scoffs. That’s all Yixing does if his friends don’t drag him out.

 

 **Chanyeol [9:08AM]**  
_you’ll be more productive if you sleep_

 

 **XingXing [9:11AM]**  
_ah look at that someone just came into the studio_  
_got to go ^^_

 

 **Chanyeol [9:11AM]**  
_liar : <_  
_i won’t answer your calls if you don’t at least nap_

 

 **XingXing [9:12AM]**  
_promise i will_  
_only for you_

 

Chanyeol groans and gets up, knowing he really won’t be able to get back to bed until Yixing’s taken a nap. He texts Joohyun on the way to the bathroom, asking if she still wanted to hang out. He sets his phone on the sink counter and strips out of his pajamas to begin getting ready for the day.

Once he’s done with the bathroom, he takes a quick pouting selfie and sends it to Yixing with, _you made me get ready so early. i deserve five pics in compensation._ Immediately, Chanyeol phone buzzes and he checks and it and drops it straight to the ground.

 

 **XingXing [10:04AM]**  
_you’re the prettiest_

 

 _That’s new._ And Chanyeol swears he isn’t blushing from the million heart-eyed stickers Yixing sends next. It’s just a little warm in his apartment and what Yixing said is just a compliment. Compliments are nice, especially from Yixing. He then receives just a single selfie from Yixing, hair covered by a hat and a finger heart pressed against his cheek. He’s really handsome, today especially so for some reason, and Chanyeol tells him just as much to even out the compliments for today. He then reads Joohyun’s text telling him they’re meeting at her place before they head out by noon.

Seeing that he doesn’t have to be at Joohyun’s for a while, he calls Yixing. Chanyeol lies on his living room floor, waiting for Yixing to pick up. He turns it to the history channel.

 _“Hi Chanyeol,”_ Yixing greets. _“Missed my voice that much?”_

“Yeah. I can’t go no more than a few hours without hearing you,” Chanyeol deadpans and Yixing snickers. “But you aren’t busy?”

 _“I’d have sent you a text instead,”_ he points out and Chanyeol really can’t argue or say anything smart against that. _“So what’s up?”_

“Oh, nothing,” he says, light tone to his voice. “Since _someone_ decided to disturb me from my slumber, I’m up now.”

 _“Sorry,”_ he singsongs.

“I don’t think you meant that apology.”

_“I get to talk to you right now, so maybe I don’t.”_

_“Yixing,”_ Chanyeol whines and lies on his back to stare at the ceiling. He wonders why Yixing can so effortlessly say things like it’s no big deal. Is Yixing even aware how he sounds? Or is he just a natural flirt? It’s mind boggling and too confusing for Chanyeol to wrap his head around. He can’t deal.

_“Yes, Chanyeol?”_

“Nothing,” he mumbles. If Yixing could see how frustrated he makes him, he’d probably laugh.

 _“Nothing? Oh! Then let me tell you they’re using one of my songs for title track of a new boy group,”_ Yixing excitedly gets out. _“Funny because it only took a few hours to make, but I think it’s one of my best. It’s called What U Need.”_

“Wow, that’s amazing Yixing!” Chanyeol congratulates. “I’m really happy for you.”

_“Thanks. They’re also asking me to make one more song for the album by this Friday.”_

“Isn’t that kind of late?”

Yixing starts to hum and by the sound of it, tap his fingers against something, until he answers, _“To put in an album maybe, but for me to make, not at all.”_

“Wow, you’re a genius.” Chanyeol wishes he could be that creative that fast.

 _“I’m really not,”_ he denies and Chanyeol would tell him so if Yixing weren’t already speaking again. _“But if genius means sampling your humming to put in a song, then I guess.”_

“You did what?”

 _“I liked how your humming had sound—kind of like a tune,”_ Yixing begins to explain, _“so I recorded a bit of it and put it in a song. It’s not the one going to the boy group, but I hope to use it eventually. You don’t mind do you?”_

Chanyeol’s natural reaction is to hang up Yixing and squeal in peace. He’s a hundred percent sure he looks like a complete embarrassment flailing around on the floor, but whatever. Part of his voice was used in a song.

_He used me in a song?_

“He used me in a song! Oh my gods,” he says aloud and sits up. Yixing actually used part of his voice in a song! It feels like an honor in a way and really loves the fact that part of him will exist in one of Yixing’s songs. He needs to know more now and gets ready to speak until the fact that he hung up on Yixing registers. _“Fuck.”_ Chanyeol quickly calls Yixing and thank the gods he picks up.

 _“Chanyeol? Uh, should I not use your voice?”_ Yixing asks quietly, hesitantly.

Chanyeol hurriedly rushes out, “Um, I accidentally hung up because I was too excited,” causing Yixing to laugh, though shyly.

 _“So it’s okay?”_ he asks again. _“You can say no.”_

“It’s more than okay, honestly,” he reassures him with. Yixing breathes out a sigh of relief. “But when do I get to hear it? Or any of your other music? Like demos before they’re all polished and stuff.”

 _“You’d want to?”_ Yixing asks, surprise filling his voice.

“Yeah. I’ve already listened to some of your songs anyway,” he informs. After he remembered Yixing wrote music in addition to being a producer, it was only natural that he got curious and with Sehun’s help he found a list of every single song Yixing has worked on. “I looked you up and found your composer name. Your songs are really good.”

_“They’re okay.”_

“Well, let me spend the next few minutes telling you how you’re wrong,” Chanyeol says, making Yixing laugh. “I’m serious! Let’s start with what I think is your best song, “Hand.” It’s my favorite.”

 _“Wow, you really looked them up,”_ Yixing says offhandedly. _“But go on.”_

“I shall.”

Chanyeol then spends the next hour telling Yixing something he likes about each one of Yixing’s songs, especially ones he had also written lyrics for. It brings a warm feeling throughout Chanyeol’s entire body hearing Yixing’s excitement over explaining how he came up with the melody for each one they discuss or the story behind particular lyrics. He shouldn’t feel a sense of pride over how talented Yixing is, yet still does. _It’s because we’re friends,_ Chanyeol tells himself. It’s because Yixing is so amazing at what he does that he can’t help but be proud. Of a friend, of course.

 _“But, how do you understand the lyrics?”_ Yixing asks after Chanyeol just spent the last few minutes gushing over the lyrics to “Give Me A Chance.”

“Oh, I asked Sehun,” Chanyeol says and then goes on to explain, “I said I liked this one Chinese song and asked him to translate for me.

_“Sehun knows Chinese?”_

“Yeah. He even went to China. Uh, Changsha? For some kind of exchange,” Chanyeol recalls. Sehun was having the time of his life while Chanyeol was back at home making sure Baekhyun didn’t worry himself to death over Sehun’s wellbeing. “Baekhyun went crazy that semester and it’s what led them to mating soon after.”

 _“Ah. Changsha is my hometown,”_ Yixing says, rather happily. _“I miss it so I’m going back in a few weeks to see my grandparents and parents. But did he know it was my song?”_

“No. I didn’t want it putting ideas in his head if I told him it was a song you wrote. He’d probably give me a lecture.”

_“About what?”_

“How long distance relationships are stupid and how he hopes I’m not falling for some alpha in another country.”

 _“And what would you say to that?”_ he asks with a hum.

“Well, I’d agree on the long distance thing for the sake of it. And even if I did fall for an alpha in another country, I’d tell him not to worry, but secretly pine for the alpha until I exploded. And hope that I eventually got the chance to date him.”

 _“Is that so?”_ Yixing mumbles, but loud enough for Chanyeol to hear.

“Why, do you think they’re okay?”

_“I thought I had an answer, but I don’t know now.”_

“Well if you—” Chanyeol doesn’t get to finish his sentence thanks to a knock at the door. “Hold on.” He gets up from the couch to look through his peephole—it’s Baekhyun and Sehun. “I have to go now, but it’s okay if I call you later?”

_“Of course. Just text first and I’ll let you know if I’m busy or not.”_

“Okay. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.”

 _“Bye-bye, my Chanyeol,”_ Yixing says and hangs up. Chanyeol could hear the smile in his voice.

Chanyeol puffs out his cheeks and pockets his phone. He opens the door to see an annoyed pair of mates.

“You took forever,” Sehun pouts. “You know it gets cold in the halls. And who was that on the phone?”

“Oh, no one important,” Chanyeol lies and quickly changes the topic with a, “Let’s go?”

“You need your shoes and coat on to do that,” Baekhyun points out. “Now hurry.”

“Fine, fine,” Chanyeol grumbles as he puts on his shoes and coat so they can head out.

The ride to Joohyun’s place is filled mostly with Baekhyun talking and singing until Sehun tells him to lower his voice in such a sweet tone that if Chanyeol weren’t in the car, he’s sure they’d pull over to fuck right before hanging out with their friends. The rest of the time—at least Chanyeol’s—is spent messaging Yixing how, as much as he appreciates and loves Joohyun, he wants to be at home to relax. He doesn’t let it slip that he also wants to continue his conversation with Yixing about his music and would he really let him listen in on him making it. Yixing doesn’t mind that he’s complaining about hanging out with his friends and even sends him a selfie of him eating what looks like tofu mixed with some kind of meat as motivation to get through the rest of the day. _It’s mapo tofu,_ the next text reads, followed by, _i’ll be waiting for you with a full belly hehe._ Chanyeol immediately wants to tell Yixing how cute he is, but remembers it would start a back and forth between them of saying whether Yixing is cute or not. Instead he sends, _so handsome~,_ in reply and tells Yixing he’s arrived at his friend’s place.

Thank the gods everyone is here already. And Chanyeol would like to say that he pays attention to when his friends talk about the set plans for today when he gives input or smiles and nods along. But in reality, much of it goes in one ear and out the other thanks to Yixing sending him another selfie, this time of himself in a tight t-shirt that’s practically see through. And it shouldn’t shock him that Yixing has abs because the alpha has spoken about working out on more than a few occasions. Chanyeol tries not to let his thoughts linger on how strong Yixing must be or what Yixing looks like working out or swimming or, just other things. Zhang Yixing. Yixing. Cute Xing-xing who is a friend. They’re only friends who call and text and stay up late together more than they should.

Yup. Friends.

So Chanyeol not paying attention to his friends, and most importantly and specifically to Joohyun because it’s her pre-birthday celebration, when they leave her apartment to head to somewhere isn’t surprising in the least bit. Instead he ponders on how he wants to text and call Yixing. Well, he can kind of text him, but he mainly wants to call and hear his voice that’s become a strong sense of comfort whenever he listens to him.

They first go the arcade from Sooyoung’s recommendation. Chanyeol thinks it’s because Sooyoung wants to win her girlfriend some prizes, but also because she wants to play the new fighting game they just set up and see how competitive Joohyun can get. Either way, it’s fine and Chanyeol does have fun when Sehun drags him over to a dancing game and challenges him (Chanyeol runs out of breath) or when he goes head to head with Baekhyun in air hockey. But then it gets a bit lonely as his friends slowly break off into just being with their mates, even Seulgi and Junmyeon who he thought would keep his mind from straying to thoughts of a particular alpha. The least they could have done was let him bring along Jiho or Seolhyun for company. Chanyeol sighs as he goes to sit over in the large eating area where they all left their jackets. It’s filled with a bunch of couples and their kids. He takes out his phone and texts his current favorite alpha.

 

 **Chanyeol [2:10PM]**  
_i’m lonely :(_  
_entertain me_

 

He gets nothing for a few long minutes and passes time by playing Tetris until notification after notification pops up.

 

 **XingXing [2:17PM]**  
_lonely?!!_  
_aren’t you with friends?_  
_my chanyeol, what’s wrong?_  
_why?_  
_don’t be sad :(_  
_your yixing is here :)_

 

 **Chanyeol [2:19PM]**  
_we went to the arcade and my friends kinda ditched me_  
_they’re all with their mates now :(_  
_i should have asked jiho or seolhyun to come along_

 

 **XingXing [2:21PM]**  
_the alpha and concert buddy?_  
_call them now and ask them to tag along?_

 

 **Chanyeol [2:22PM]**  
_i can’t :(_  
_i know jiho is practicing for a concert_  
_and seolhyun...._  
_joohyun doesn’t like hanging around people she doesn’t know_  
_and it’s her party_

 

 **XingXing [2:28PM]**  
_add jongin to katalk_  
_zkdlinbear_  
_he’ll keep you company_

 

 **Chanyeol [2:29PM]**  
_why can’t you?_

 

 **XingXing [2:30PM]**  
_have to take a nap_  
_i promised a special wolf i would ;)_

 

Chanyeol’s heart flutters when he finishes reading Yixing’s texts. “Oh, boy,” he sighs yet adds Jongin anyway and text him a simple hello in greeting. He’s instantly met with a few Rilakkuma stickers in greeting before he can even go over his profile pic. Chanyeol likes him already. He sends just as many back.

 

 **Ninibear [2:34PM]**  
_i’m jongin of course_  
_yixing’s friend_

 

 **Chanyeol [2:34PM]**  
_i’m chanyeol_  
_also yixing’s friend_

 

 **Ninibear [2:34PM]**  
_so, he told me you were lonely?_  
_and so i’m here to keep you company_  
_and jsyk. i don’t do this for anyone_

 

And keep him company Jongin does.

By debating anime of all things.

He doesn’t remember the last time he had so much fun talking about One Piece and a bit about Dragon Ball and what the best arcs of each show without a doubt are. Jongin is pretty entertaining, especially when his opinion differs from his own. Too bad he doesn’t have a face to put with the name. His stories are filled with dogs and his profile pic is also a dog, all ones he recognizes from Yixing’s own photos. At least thirty minutes go by before Seulgi and Junmyeon are walking up to him, asking where he’s been.

“Oh, just here,” Chanyeol answers. “I haven’t been feeling well today so I thought I should sit down for a bit.”

Seulgi puts the back of her hand over Chanyeol’s forehead. “You don’t feel hot,” Seulgi says after she pulls her hand away. “Did your heat already come?”

Chanyeol shakes his head. “It’s too early for it to come. Though my last one didn’t come at all.”

Both Junmyeon and Seulgi glance at each other. “You didn’t let Jiho knot you, did you?” Junmyeon asks. “You aren’t pregnant, are you?”

“I would have had to have known Jiho when my last heat was, so no. And not any other alpha before you ask,” Chanyeol says. “It’s probably just one of those times that it’s off.”

“Or you could go into heat suddenly if it’s this late,” Seulgi reminds.

“That hasn’t happened since I first got them,” Chanyeol frowns. “It’s just off. It’s happened before.”

“If you say so,” Junmyeon sighs and drops the subject. “We’re going to head to the mall to pick out Joohyun’s gifts in about fifteen minutes.”

“Alright,” Chanyeol says as his friends walk away.

 _So much for being worried._ Chanyeol resumes his conversation with Jongin. Twenty-five minutes go by before his friends sans Joohyun and Sooyoung are walking up to the table.

“Ready to go?” Baekhyun asks as he puts on his jacket. “And you’re sticking by me in the mall.”

“Sure, sure,” Chanyeol brushes off and stands. He puts on his outerwear as well.

It takes another ten minutes for them to leave which means it’s just another ten minutes to pester Jongin about telling him any of Yixing’s secrets. He doesn’t budge except on one thing—Yixing likes to sleep with a sheep plushie his grandma got him when he was younger. Chanyeol makes a mental note to ask for a pic of said sheep toy later.

When they get to the mall, Chanyeol spends it mostly walking behind his friends. They don’t seem to notice or maybe they just don’t care that he’s more into his phone than hanging out with them. The fact that all of them are slowly drifting away with their mates _again_ even though they’re all here to shop _with_ Joohyun for gifts has Chanyeol a little agitated. Thankfully, Jongin at least agrees with him about Iron Man being the best Marvel character in the MCU keeps him calm. Chanyeol really doesn’t know how long they’ve been walking around for when he notices Sehun drag Baekhyun to some clothing store. Chanyeol sees this as a great opportunity to head to the food court all by himself.

Chanyeol gets there in record time and makes his way to the Krispy Kreme to order two glazed donuts and a peppermint mocha. He takes a window seat and begins eating with one hand as the other works on typing letters to Jongin.

 

 **Chanyeol [4:14PM]**  
_don’t tell me you didn’t cry_  
_do you know how much that line hurt?_

 

 **Ninibear [4:15PM]**  
_it’s why i like to tease others about it~_

 

 **Chanyeol [4:15PM]**  
_pure evil man_  
_peter’s ashes will haunt you_  
_and then tony will come for you_

 

 **Ninibear [4:15PM]**  
_sure  
_ooh. your alpha is telling me he’s up_  
_it was nice chatting with you :)_  
_and we’re finishing this convo later_  
_when yixing decides not to occupy all your time_  
_text me later though_  
_i’m gonna go teach a class_  
_and as my last thought, mr. park_  
_i don’t feel so good__

 

 _My alpha?_ Chanyeol would spit out what’s left of his donut if he weren’t in public.

 

 **Chanyeol [4:16PM]**  
_don’t use my own name to hurt me like that_  
_i’m resending my offer of friendship_

 

 **Ninibear [4:16PM]**  
_no take backs :)_  
_bye chanyeol. And text me later!_

 

Chanyeol would take the time to send Jongin a proper goodbye, but Yixing is done with his nap so he sends him a waving Frodo instead. He then quickly texts Yixing, asking him to call.

 _“Chanyeol,”_ Yixing yawns, voice still a bit groggy. Chanyeol wonders for a brief second if it’s normal to find Yixing’s sleepy voice attractive. _“You’re fast.”_

“Well Jongin told me you told you were up from your nap and was basically telling him his job was done,” Chanyeol says and goes to the counter to stand in line to order a few more donuts, bagged this time. “What else was I supposed to do?”

 _“Good point. So, how was Jongin? Did he keep you company?”_ Yixing asks, clearly interested in how their time was spent.

“Oh yeah!” Chanyeol states a bit loudly, earning a glance from a few other customers. He shrugs. “He’s cool,” he says a lot softer this time. “We had fun talking about anime and Marvel stuff. I tried to get him to tell me things about you.”

_“And did he?”_

“Not really. Just that you slept with a stuffed sheep,” Chanyeol snickers. “Hold on,” he says to Yixing and then to the cashier, “Let me get four glazed donuts to go. And a white chocolate mocha.” The cashier rings up his order and Chanyeol pays and waits over at the pickup counter. “Now, where were we?”

 _“That you got Jongin to tell you about my sheep plushie. I can’t believe him.”_ Yixing sighs deeply. _“But it’s a cute toy and has sentimental value so I can’t be too upset.”_

“Not into letting me know your deep dark secrets yet? Next I’ll find out you sleep with a night light.”

 _“Funny,”_ Yixing deadpans. _“But how are things with your friends? Are they much better?”_

“Uh, well, we’re at the mall, but we all got separated.” Chanyeol needs to be vague on purpose. He can’t let Yixing thinks he has flaky friends. Today is probably just an off day, kind of like how his heat is being.

 _“Separated how?”_ Yixing asks, tone a little demanding. Chanyeol doesn’t know whether to find it intimidating or kind of hot. He’s so used to Yixing’s softer side it almost feels like a complete shock.

“Uh, it just kind of happened?” Chanyeol says, questioning his own self. He starts to ramble. “Like first we were all together, like all bunched together as we walked and we went to a few stores and I got Joohyun a necklace from the second one we went to. And then we went to a few more stores and Seulgi and Junmyeon just disappeared. And then we went to another store and Joohyun dragged her girlfriend off somewhere so I was left with Sehun and Baekhyun. I just followed behind them since Baekhyun told me to stick by him since my heat is late and I guess they were worried it could start suddenly.”

_“Do you think it might start early? I know you mentioned earlier in the week about it, but things could have changed.”_

“No. It hasn’t happened like that since I first got heats. Any other time, it’s just late, so no big deal. If I thought so, I’d be at home right now just in case.”

 _“Hm,”_ is all Yixing says about the heat topic and nothing more. _“And how’d you end up alone?”_

“Well, Sehun pulled Baekhyun off to some store and I saw it as an opportunity to eat and leave,” he says, half-laughing the last of his words. “I wanted donuts.” Speaking of them, Chanyeol smiles at the Krispy Kreme worker and takes his bag of donuts and beverage and begins to aimlessly walk around. “So it’s kind of my fault.”

 _“That’s not right, Chanyeol,”_ Yixing groans. _“You should have stayed with them just in case, but they—never mind. I shouldn’t speak poorly about wolves I don’t even know.”_

“You were thinking they should have made sure I was with them? Especially if they thought I could go into heat at any moment?” There’s silence on Yixing’s end long enough for Chanyeol to know that it’s exactly what Yixing was thinking. To assure him that it’s okay, Chanyeol says, “I thought the same thing too.”

 _“You did?”_ Yixing asks, seemingly caught off guard by Chanyeol’s words.

Chanyeol hums, “I did,” and wonders if he should try sniffing out any one of his friends or call it a day and go home. He’d probably have no luck finding them with all the different scents in the air. “I love them, but I don’t know. I know their first priority is their mate, but it would have been nice to feel noticed. Even the owners at the bakery seemed more concerned about my wellbeing.”

_“Oh yeah. You did mention one of them taking you home after you somehow got on the topic of heats and not getting yours yet.”_

“Yeah, I really like them; they’re nice.”

 _“So, are you planning to spend the rest of the day with them or no?”_ Yixing questions.

“Don’t know. What do you think I should do?”

_“Honestly? I think you should take an omega cab home right now. I know it really isn’t my place, but I want you to be happy and feel wanted and I don’t think you are right now.”_

“Okay. I’ll leave.”

_“Really? You don’t have to. You can always go and find them. It is your friend’s birthday after all.”_

“I know, but I really didn’t want to do this from the beginning, didn’t I?” Chanyeol then recalls his earlier texts to Yixing as he heads towards an exit. “Sometimes friends are just flakey assholes, I guess. I’ll just lie and say I think my heat was about to start if I don’t bump into them. I already got Joohyun a gift anyway.”

_“If you say so.”_

“I’m heading out an exit as we speak. And I didn’t bump into a single one of them.” Chanyeol then glances around seeing if he can spot any taxi stops. He sees one, but it doesn’t look like one specially dedicated to omegas. He passes right by it and keeps looking. “I’d much rather talk to you anyway.” He finally sees an omega cab stop and waits in line.

 _“Is that so?”_ Yixing asks, sounding smug. _“I always knew I was great company.”_

“I know you’re being a brat right now, but you really are. I think I’ve told you quite a few times already.” Chanyeol hops into a taxi and give the driver his address by showing his ID card. “I’m on my way home now. Oh wait Baekhyun’s calling. I’ll call you right back.”

_“Okay.”_

Chanyeol hangs up to answer Baekhyun’s call. “Hello,” he says, a bit carefully.

 _“Where the hell are you?”_ Baekhyun asks, angrily at that. _“You were supposed to stick by us. Tell me now so I can come get you.”_

Chanyeol wonders if it’s worth getting into an argument with Baekhyun right now. He’d really like to know if Baekhyun knew they’ve been separated for a while now and just or if he just only noticed now. Either way would just show no one cared enough. He decides to leave it be. “I thought I might start my heat so I’m in a cab home.”

 _“Thank gods,”_ Baekhyun sighs in relief. _“We thought a random alpha or beta might have grabbed you.”_ Again, Chanyeol wonders when they even noticed he was gone. _“Do you need me to bring you anything after we’re done with Joohyun’s birthday dinner?”_

“No, I’m good. I went grocery shopping the other day,” he lies. In fact, he should do some shopping before he goes home. “But I’ll talk to you later. I’m a little tired.”

_“Okay. ‘Night Yeol.”_

“Good night,” Chanyeol says and hangs up. He checks his phone for any other messages just in case he was too preoccupied with Jongin and Yixing to have noticed, but there’s nothing. So much for counting on friends.

Chanyeol doesn’t call Yixing back right away. Instead he asks the cab driver to take him to the mart close to his apartment complex where he picks up a few needed groceries just in case his heat does start without warning and some extras to have. The driver is nice enough to wait for him and takes him home. Once all the groceries are put away, Chanyeol then calls Yixing. He doesn’t pick up, but does get a text _—can i call you? like in a few hours._ Chanyeol sends a, _i’ll be waiting~,_ in return and uses his time to make brownies, forgetting he has donuts sitting on his coffee table, and orders jjampong.

It takes a whole two hours for Yixing to finally call.

 _“Chanyeol, my Chanyeol,”_ Yixing says rather excitedly. _“I finished the song they wanted me to do for the boy group I told you about.”_ That must have been what was taking up Yixing’s time.

“Oh yeah? Told you; you’re a genius,” Chanyeol says. “But you didn’t want to take your time? You have nearly a week to do it.”

_“The group’s sound is something I like so it was really easy for me. But what are you doing?”_

“Just watching TV, some variety show. It’s not that funny, but there’s not much else to watch,” Chanyeol frowns. “I guess I could always binge One Piece again.”

 _“Or you could just talk to me,”_ Yixing suggests quietly and Chanyeol’s ears perk up at the comment. _“And tell me more astronomy stuff.”_

“I could do that,” Chanyeol attempts to say as calmly as possible, internally freaking out that Yixing in genuinely interested in hearing about something he likes. He thinks he kind of fails. “I can tell you more about my star, Sirius?”

_“Go ahead.”_

“Let me relocate,” Chanyeol says, knowing they’ll probably end up spending the night talking to each other again until one of them starts dozing off. He should at least be somewhere comfortable so he won’t have to drag himself to bed. Chanyeol carries his donuts and a bottle of water to the bedroom and places them on the nightstand and sets his phone down on the bed close enough for Yixing to hear him on speaker. “So Sirius, it was actually used as an important reference in the past. To mark different parts of the year,” Chanyeol explains. “For some it meant the worst part of summer had begun and for others, it meant winter had come depending on its position in the sky.”

_“That’s cool.”_

“I know! And because it’s the brightest star, it was also used as a navigational tool.”

_“The brightest? It’s the brightest?”_

“Yup. The brightest star in the sky,” he repeats.

 _“Huh. I’m sure the loey star is brighter though,”_ Yixing comments.

“Loey?” Chanyeol pauses. That doesn’t seem right; he’s sure he would have come across that name before or even remembered it considering it shares his nickname. “I didn’t know that. That’s cool that it has the same name as me. Can we see it from earth? Or maybe it belongs to another planet or solar system?”

Yixing laughs, sweetly so, before saying, _“It’s in your eyes.”_

Chanyeol’s words get caught in his throat and he can feel his face going red. And for the second time today, he hangs up on Yixing to pick up his pillow and scream into it, legs kicking about. He feels like a high schooler all over again.

“Yixing—he just—he can’t—he—did he—” Chanyeol stutters over aloud, but can’t even find the proper words to describe what just happened. _What does it even mean? Is all this flirting on purpose? Does Yixing like me?_ Chanyeol can’t figure a single thing out, not yet, but one thing for sure is that it makes Chanyeol’s heart race and stomach flip from how much he likes it.

From how much he likes Yixing.

Then it sinks in.

_I like Yixing._

_I really like Yixing._

Chanyeol realizes he likes Yixing in a not so platonic way and more in a mate kind of way. He almost texts one of his friends until he remembers they’re all celebrating Joohyun’s birthday. Jiho and Seolhyun might not be, but they’re most likely busy with Jiho’s concert right about now. Chanyeol eats some of his donut and takes a sip of water before slapping his cheeks gently a few times to get himself together.

He _likes_ Yixing.

An alpha that’s six hundred something miles away and doesn’t know what to do.

Chanyeol groans and flops down to the bed when he recalls Yixing not really knowing how he felt about long distance relationships. It isn’t like it’s the most impossible thing in the world to do. There’re probably some successful couples out there that have mated. They could do it too.

Chanyeol takes a few deep breaths before thinking over a million scenarios about him and Yixing. He needs to text someone to put it out in the open. He picks up his phone intending to text Seolhyun, though he might get a late response she’s probably the most neutral choice to talk to in all of this, until he sees a number of messages from Yixing.

 

 **XingXing [9:09PM]**  
_chanyeol?_

 

 **XingXing [9:10PM]**  
_did you hang up on me again?_

 

 **XingXing [9:17PM]**  
_did i say something wrong?_

 

 **XingXing [9:18PM]**  
_was it too cheesy?_  
_should i take it back?_

 

 **XingXing [9:20]**  
_but i don’t want to and it’s not like i can...._

 

 **XingXing [9:21PM]**  
_chanyeol_  
_my chanyeol <3_  
_answer me_  
_chanyeol :c_

 

 **XingXing [9:23PM]**  
_i’m going to send sad stickers_

 

Like the text says, Yixing does send a bunch of sad kakao friend stickers. It makes Chanyeol’s heart ache, especially the last message.

 

 **XingXing [9:25PM]**  
_it was too much, wasn’t it?_

 

 **XingXing [9:26PM]**  
_i’m sorry_

 

Chanyeol looks at the time the first message was sent all the way to the last, not being able to believe he left Yixing hanging for twenty minutes because he couldn’t control his reactions. He calls Yixing and waits and gets nothing. He tries a few more times and still gets nothing.

 _“Fuck,”_ he groans. Just when he thought he he’d finally figured something out about himself, he had to go and make Yixing sad.

 

 **Chanyeol [9:29PM]**  
_yixing_  
_my yixing <3_  
_please pick up_  
_i’m not upset_  
_well maybe at myself_  
_but never at you_  
_i....._  
_i needed to calm myself down_  
_you keep making me blush_  
_and feel things_  
_and i don’t know what to do_

 

It’s Yixing who calls Chanyeol this time.

 _“Hey,”_ Yixing starts, nearly a whisper. _“You’re not just saying all of that, are you?”_

“No, I’m not,” Chanyeol says and rubs at his temples. “I just—it’s like earlier. I didn’t know how to react except to hang up. I don’t need you to hear me squealing.”

 _“I bet it would sound cute,”_ Yixing jokes and Chanyeol can feel the air becoming lighter already. _“But it really didn’t bother you? Not at all?”_

“I liked it and it was actually pretty smooth. I don’t know how you do it.”

 _“Don’t know either. Everything feels natural when it comes to you.”_ Chanyeol is left speechless and everything feels entirely too warm. When he says nothing in return, Yixing continues, _“It’s—I don’t know how to explain, but I feel—I don’t know. It’s nice. What we have is nice.”_

“It is,” Chanyeol agrees and then easily he says, “Funny how it was Joohyun’s birthday and yet I’ve basically spent it all with you. Over the phone, no less,” as he gets up to turn off his bedroom light and then flicks on the lamp on his nightstand. “And you know, I wouldn’t change one bit about today, only if it meant I got to talk to you more.”

 _“Chanyeol I—I think we should stop here,”_ Yixing rushes out.

Suddenly Chanyeol feels all too disappointed. “Wh—why?” he stumbles out. They were just getting somewhere too.

 _“I want us to know exactly what we want, and not have this be just some fleeting moment because we get along. I don’t want to end up saying something I’m not one hundred percent sure on. Do you understand?”_ Yixing asks.

Chanyeol unfortunately does. And it’s best they quit now because down the road, it might have been just infatuation and might end up ruining a good friendship over it. At least he knows Yixing is on the same page. “Then want me to finish talking about Sirius or should I tell you about something else?”

 _“Talk to me about what it was like growing up in Cheongdo,”_ Yixing says. _“I want to learn more about you.”_ It makes Chanyeol chuckle lightly. _“What’s so funny?”_ Chanyeol easily pictures Yixing with a frown on his face.

“It’s nothing.” Chanyeol doesn’t think even he could explain why that made him laugh. “I’ll start with how growing up there made me hate even the smell of persimmons.”

And Chanyeol does. One year Chanyeol had eaten so many different things made out of persimmons that he spent the next day sick and he swore off them after. Then Chanyeol tells of how he was always too scared to go to the bullfighting festival but always bought food from the aunties selling outside of the area. Then Yixing starts revealing childhood stories of his own like the time he ran away from home because his parents were forcing him to play piano. He didn’t make it that far, but he came home crying. Yixing also shares getting into a fight over food at a camp his parents had sent him to for the summer and was almost kicked out of the program. They talk so much that time is lost and Chanyeol doesn’t notice what time it is until his alarm goes off.

“Fuck,” Chanyeol curses. “I forgot I had work.”

 _“Forgetting the days of the week, are we?”_ Yixing teases.

“When I’m talking to you, yes. I don’t know how I’m going to make it through today.” Chanyeol prays he doesn’t have anything super important to do and it’s just the usual boring office work. Mondays are typically a slow start.

_“Don’t you work with Junmyeon? You told them you thought you were going into heat.”_

“I’ll just say it was a false alarm,” he yawns. “Though it probably would be a blessing if I could start it today to avoid having to work.” Chanyeol forces himself out of bed and to the bathroom. “Guess I’ll need you to text me at work to keep me awake since it’s kind of your fault.”

_“I’m not the one who told a really long story about a wine tunnel.”_

“It was scary.”

 _“It sounds fun,”_ Yixing giggles. _“Minus the friends ditching you to scare you part. How were you even scared when there were other families and stuff around?”_ Yixing questions. _“Couldn’t you just have asked them for help?”_

“I was seven and fearful of the world,” he jokes. “But it never crossed my mind.” Chanyeol sets down his phone and begins stripping. “I’ll talk to you later though?”

_“I’d never say no. And good morning, my Chanyeol. Have a good day at work.”_

“Thanks,” he says, smiling to himself. “You too. And get some sleep. Please. I’ll ask Jongin to check up on you.”

_“How close did you two get?”_

“Very. He will be my spy.”

Yixing snickers. _“You’re silly. Bye-bye.”_

“Bye,” Chanyeol says and hangs up, looking down at his phone. He sighs and reluctantly gets ready for work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It takes an uneventful morning—something that’s become a norm at the office—for Chanyeol to be able to check his texts during a solo lunch and sees he has a new one from Yixing. _I slept! and then jongin showed up so i dyed my hair back to black and cut it,_ is all it says. He swirls around his office chair and tries to picture the Yixing he knows going from chestnut brown to black and he can’t quite see it and then it dawns on him that the only image he’s ever seen of Yixing are through random photos. For all he knows, Yixing really isn’t really Yixing and just uses a friend’s pictures or some stranger’s from the internet. Or Yixing could secretly be a stalker and uses his target to catfish unsuspecting wolves.

They’ve talked so much and the option is there; it’s kind of ridiculous that neither one of them have initiated a video call before. Maybe that’s why Yixing put a stop to their conversation earlier just when they were about to discuss their feelings. Maybe Yixing is a fraud and is afraid of what Chanyeol will think. He’s already too deep now, but he needs to know.

Chanyeol decides to call Yixing now knowing, he’ll sate his curiosity much faster that way.

“We’ve been talking for a while right?” Chanyeol starts their conversation with as soon as Yixing picks up.

Yixing yawns, _“Yeah. Nearly three months,”_ like it’s obvious. _“Something wrong?”_

“Um, well, I’ve never seen your face outside of your profile pic,” Chanyeol gets out. There’s no use delaying what he really wants to know.

 _“Oh! Are you free now?”_ Yixing asks.

“I have about,” Chanyeol pauses to check the time on his computer, “Ten minutes before I get off my lunch break.”

_“Ah, that’s enough. Look at your phone.”_

Chanyeol wonders why he’d need to do that yet does it anyway and sees that Yixing has switched their regular call to video.

Chanyeol is left breathless.

“W—wow,” Chanyeol stutters in awe. Yixing is stunning. Yixing is gorgeous. Yixing has _dimples._ Yixing is so pretty for an alpha. And Yixing decided to talk to him of all omegas? “Wow,” he repeats. Yixing is wow and Chanyeol’s heart won’t stop beating so fast.

 _“Wow? Wow what?”_ Yixing tilts his head with each question and it’s adorable. He’s not letting Yixing deny he isn’t cute from this point forward. _“Chanyeol?”_

“You really match your pic,” he finally answers, voice cracking a little. Suddenly, he feels just as restless when he first heard Yixing’s voice.

 _“So do you,”_ Yixing grins. _“We should have done this sooner. You’re really cute.”_

“Am I?” Chanyeol asks, pointing at himself, pink tint to his cheeks. Yixing grins and nods shyly. “I like your dimples,” Chanyeol says, counting at least three. He could have sworn they were in slightly different spots and it makes him wish he could count each one in person. The comment makes Yixing smiles all the more and then for time, Chanyeol sees the shift in Yixing’s eye color. “Violet. Your eyes are a really soft violet right now.” It makes Yixing even more stunning.

 _“Oh? Probably because I’m talking to you,”_ he states bluntly and Chanyeol chokes on his water. _“What?”_ he laughs. _“It’s true. Talking to you makes me happy.”_

 _“Yixing,”_ Chanyeol whines. “How long are you going to keep saying stuff like that?”

_“Forever. I like making you all flustered. And seeing your eyes turn.”_

“They do not!”

_“I’m going to send you sunflowers. That’s what they remind me of.”_

_“Yixing, stop,”_ Chanyeol whines. His heart can’t take this.

 _“Really want me to?”_ Yixing asks with a pout to his face. He can’t deny him.

“No,” he mumbles. “It’s—my face is going to end up looking like a tomato if you keep this up.

 _“You’d be a cute tomato,”_ he smiles and then winks.

Chanyeol shakes his head. “You’re ridiculous.” He checks the time when he sees the vice principal step into the main office and then walk into their own. “I have to go, but call me later? I want to see you again so I can tell you how nice your hair looks. You look really good with it Xing.”

 _“Xi—Xing? Did you just—”_ Yixing stumbles out, but doesn’t get to finish the rest of his sentence thanks to Chanyeol cutting him off.

“Got to go!” Chanyeol waves and ends their call.

Chanyeol spends the rest of the work day thinking over how his Yixing really is Yixing. Later, the principal has to have a strong lecture with him about checking his phone during office hours, but Chanyeol thinks saving another one of Yixing’s selfies that he sends when he was supposed to be e-mailing the teachers about an upcoming meeting was well worth it. Yixing looks amazing with an undercut.

After work, Chanyeol stops by Oasis and grabs a few yellow and chocolate cupcakes topped with cream cheese frosting. Kyungsoo and Jihyun still haven’t found anyone suitable enough to help them with the bakery. Chanyeol keeps that in mind the entire taxi ride home.

He spends his evening watching do-it-yourself programs that are easy to replicate. Or at least seem easy. Chanyeol’s always been a handy omega and building a secret room covered by a bookshelf doesn’t look all that difficult once all the right tools are in place. Plus, it would be a waste to never use some of the skills he got from training when he kind of worked at IKEA and putting together furniture for customers when out on deliveries. It’s not until it’s close to midnight and he’s ready for bed that he sees an incoming video call from his favorite alpha.

“We really need to manage our time better,” Chanyeol says after staring at Yixing’s face for far too many seconds. He notices Yixing’s hair looks a bit damp. He must have just gotten out of the shower. “We need proper rest.”

 _“But I wanted to see your face before bed,”_ Yixing says, a little shyly at that. _“You’re really you. And the silver is really pretty.”_ Chanyeol touches his hair. _“Is Yoora’s hair silver too?”_

“No. She got plain black,” Chanyeol laughs. “Our grandma has silver hair so that’s probably where it comes from. But your hair is kind of curling up? Getting wavy? I thought you curled it yourself all this time.”

Yixing smirks. _“You’re goofy. But I really don't have the time.”_ And Yixing has a point. Yixing does spend most of his time holed up in a studio with a cap on a majority of the time. It wouldn’t make sense for him to waste time putting curls into his hair. _“But yeah, it’s like this naturally. I’m going to get it cut a bit shorter tomorrow.”_

“You look good right now,” Chanyeol says and Yixing averts his eyes. He thinks he’s blushing. “But was there anything you wanted to talk about in particular?”

_“Not really. I really just wanted to talk to you before bed.”_

“And yet you don’t want us to talk about our feelings when you continuously say stuff like that. My heart needs a break.”

 _“Are you sure about them yet?”_ Yixing asks. Chanyeol really can’t say he is. He likes Yixing, a whole lot, but it could still be a tiny crush that goes away the more they talk. _“See.”_

“Okay. But when we are, we’ll really talk about us, right?”

 _“Of course,”_ he smiles. _“We’d be stupid not to.”_

“Alright,” Chanyeol says, satisfied with Yixing’s answer. “I’ll talk to you tomor—later when we get up.”

 _“Goodnight my Chanyeol,”_ Yixing whispers and Chanyeol can tell he’s about to fall asleep.

“Goodnight my Yixing.” It takes a few seconds, but Yixing’s eyes suddenly go wide and soften to a deep purple. It’s the first time he’s ever said that out loud.

Yixing then waves before ending their call.

Chanyeol then lies down, not even bothering to turn off his bedroom light. He swipes through all his saved pictures of Yixing, noticing new details about each one—the tint of purple in his eyes, what kind of food he’s eating and where it looks like he took the pic, how Yixing doesn’t even have to do much for his dimples to show—small details that make him like Yixing all the more. For the first time in a long time, Chanyeol actually feels something for another wolf that goes beyond friendship. It’s welcomed yet frightening to fall for someone in another country, but Chanyeol can’t say he minds all that much. Not when even the thought of Yixing has him feeling dizzy in the most wonderful kind of way.

Chanyeol prays to the gods, to Sirius, that this isn’t infatuation and falls asleep thinking how nice it would be to be with Yixing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Yixing, you’re taking forever,” Chanyeol whines when Yixing’s face is still out of view. He sees him walk pass his computer to grab who knows what. “Yixing,” he groans this time.

 _“Don’t rush me,”_ Yixing brushes him off as his face comes into view. _“I just have to clean up a bit. I don’t want to sign off with you and still have to clean up the studio.”_

“You could have called me _after_ you were done cleaning,” Chanyeol says, slight irritation to his voice. Chanyeol knew he should have stopped at Oasis today and talked with Kyungsoo and Jihyun for a bit. Then maybe he wouldn’t be sitting here waiting for Yixing to finally talk to him face to face.

 _“Don’t be such a baby. Besides, the earlier I get to talk to you, the better. Even if it’s hearing you complain about me.”_ He then laughs.

Chanyeol doesn’t have a single thing to say to that. But now that they aren’t talking about their feelings and what their relationship is developing into, he wishes Yixing would stop. The past few weeks have been torture on his heart. He doesn’t know how much longer he can take Yixing’s compliments and flirty comments that always leave him feeling all too hot and dazed. It’s not fair when he knows for certain that he likes Yixing, not just because they get along and are the first wolf each other has built a connection with in a while. He knows for certain that he wants to be with Yixing, distance or not. And he knows for certain that Yixing feels the same or else there’d be something off. His wolf would be able to tell him so. But his wolf has been restless ever since he met Yixing and has gone on more runs that he can count to keep calm.

There’s a loud bang on Yixing’s end and a curse from the alpha before he finally comes into view and sits.

“Done?” Chanyeol asks, brow raised.

 _“Yes, I’m done Chanyeol,”_ Yixing says and takes a drink from his coffee cup. _“I’m all yours now.”_

“Not really,” Chanyeol huffs. “Stop looking at your phone.”

 _“Sorry,”_ Yixing says sheepishly. _“I’m just waiting for them to tell me the demos made it over safely. You’re really cranky after your heat is done. It’s cute.”_

“I’m cranky because I really could have waited until you were completely—” Chanyeol stops talking when he sees another person walk behind Yixing and off screen. “Who was that?”

 _“Ah, no one. Anyway, I told you I had to tell you something important, remember?”_ And Chanyeol does, which is why he rushed home instead of swinging by Oasis like he normally would have. Chanyeol motions for him to continue. _“So I’ve been thinking about something for a while,”_ Yixing calmly says as his fingers tap lightly, repeatedly, against his keyboard. _“And I want your thoughts on it.”_

“What is it?” Chanyeol immediately asks, curiosity filling his head. Is Yixing going to finally going to ask him to listen to one of his songs? Or is this something simpler like a change in hair color? Yixing did mention how he missed having brown hair. Whatever it is, he hopes he’ll be of some use to help Yixing through it, no matter how small.

 _“Well, there’s this omega that I really like,”_ Yixing starts and Chanyeol has to force himself to keep his grin on. The tight feeling in his chest is okay. _“But I don’t know if I should ask him out or not.”_

Chanyeol stays silent for the next few seconds, full realization that Yixing likes some other omega settling in. _It’s fine._ They’d be long distance and it wouldn’t have worked anyway, even if he would have done his best to make sure it did. Yixing is his friend; he needs to be supportive now. Chanyeol’s heart pinches as he asks, “Really? Why?”

Yixing sits straight up and bites down on his bottom lip before answering quietly, _“I don’t know if he’d be willing to try out a long distance relationship, especially when we don’t live in the same country,”_ gaze never leaving Chanyeol’s own. Chanyeol blinks rapidly and now Chanyeol doesn’t know Yixing’s full list of friends, but he does know Yixing mostly keeps to himself and most of his friends are from the company he contracts under. Suddenly, Chanyeol is filled with renewed hope and feels completely fine. _“So? Chanyeol? Say something. Chanyeol? My Chanyeol answer me,”_ Yixing pesters when Chanyeol remains speechless.

“What country is he from?” Chanyeol manages to ask, voice a little shaky.

 _“Korea,”_ Yixing simply answers.

“What city?”

_“Seoul, but he did grow up in Cheongdo.”_

“How’d you meet?”

_“Our friends convinced us to use a dating app and it went from there.”_

Yixing smiles, softly so, as he stares at Chanyeol, eyes turning a light shade of purple. Chanyeol didn’t know his eyes could turn _that light,_ most alphas’ eye color don’t stray too far from the original, even when lightening up, but then again Baekhyun’s always show way too many shades of pink for everything. It makes Chanyeol excited for everything new he’ll get to learn about Yixing.

A few seconds pass before Chanyeol’s slurring a breathless, “I think you should ask him out properly.”

_“Then Chanyeol would you—”_

“Yes!” Chanyeol shouts all too eagerly. It has to be him. There’s no other omega that fits. “Yes,” he repeats more calmly. “You’re my boyfriend now. My alpha.”

Yixing chuckles and his eyes darken to a deep violet before going back to the brown Chanyeol’s so used to seeing. _“Okay Chanyeol baby.”_ Chanyeol melts over the new nickname. _“I hope this means we’re both on the same page?”_

“Gods yes,” Chanyeol sighs in relief. The fact that Yixing likes him, really likes him and isn’t some fleeting moment like Yixing thought it would be makes Chanyeol more than happy.

_“Then want to meet a friend of mine? Finally in person?”_

“Sure,” he says with an excited nod.

 _“Jongin, come here!”_ Yixing shouts as he turns away from the screen and beckons over who Chanyeol assumes is his friend. _“Hurry,”_ he says a lot more gently.

There’s a bit of rustling before a wolf Chanyeol’s only heard about and texted one too many times on how his opinions on particular anime are wrong comes into view and Chanyeol is absolutely stunned. _Jongin is gorgeous._ Even through a computer screen Jongin is so alluring, skin reminding him of a warm summer and lips so full and inviting. Chanyeol’s always gotten a beta vibe from Jongin, but he has to be an alpha if he’s charming him this much.

 _“Chanyeol this is Jongin; he works here as a choreographer and the same omega you like to argue with,”_ Yixing states. _“And Jongin, as you just heard, this is Chanyeol. He’s mine; my omega”_ Chanyeol thinks he hears Jongin mumble, _‘Possessive already,’_ under his breath. _“Introduce yourself more Jongin.”_

Jongin’s nose scrunches and then says, _“Nice to finally meet you face to face. I’m Jongin, Yixing’s favorite omega. Unless you guys mate,”_ blinding white smile included. From his natural tone Chanyeol knows he’s Korean as well and isn’t just using his name translated into the language. But more importantly, did he just hear them both right? Jongin is an omega? He can’t be serious. _“I go by Kai professionally and I’m from Seoul. I also have three dogs.”_

Chanyeol nods slowly, hoping he remembers all of that. “I’m Chanyeol, Yixing’s boyfriend and wow, you’re really wow,” is all Chanyeol can think of to say. The fact that Jongin, beautiful Jongin, is an omega has him nearly at a loss for what to say. “You’re an omega?” he asks for his own sanity.

_“Yeah, but I want to talk to you later? You know getting to know Yixing’s potential mate and all outside of our anime convos. And we can be better friends too!”_

“Sure,” Chanyeol smiles even though it’s forced. “Nice meeting you properly Jongin.”

 _“Same. And we doing drinks later tonight?”_ Jongin asks Yixing as he hugs him from behind. _“Jieqiong and Jongdae are going to be there too.”_

 _“I’ll see you a little later then,”_ Yixing says. Jongin squishes their cheeks together before pulling back and waving goodbye. _“Jongin’s nice, right?”_

“I guess,” Chanyeol mumbles. It hasn’t even been five minutes and he’s already jealous of one of Yixing’s friends. “Does he come visit you in the studio a lot?”

 _“I think he likes to use the couches here for naps a lot more,”_ Yixing says, slight playful tone in his voice. _“But yeah. Usually when he’s not busy he’ll come in here. He thinks it’ll make Jongdae jealous, but Jongdae just sees it as two friends hanging out.”_

“Oh? Jongdae as in your beta friend Jongdae?

 _“Yup. He’s actually a vocal coach here too. And Korean! He likes to tell the locals his name is Chen sometimes to trick them.”_ With that, Chanyeol feels a lot less worried and knows he won’t be spending the night thinking about a million what ifs about Yixing and Jongin’s relationship now. _“But you can know more about their mutual pining later. Tell me about the job thing you mentioned earlier.”_

“Ah, yeah. Well um, I like my job and I think I’m good at it, but I don’t know.” Chanyeol stops speaking and lets out a small whine and frowns. “I don’t think I’m as happy as I could be. Like how did you even know you wanted to write music? Or even become a producer? I’m too old to be still questioning what career I want.”

 _“Well first, Chanyeol baby, you’re not old. You’re young and have plenty of time to figure this out,”_ Yixing starts and then continues after a brief pause, _“And you being happy should be what’s most important.”_

“But I don’t want to disappoint Junmyeon. He got me this job.”

_“Isn’t Junmyeon a good friend?”_

“One of the best.”

_“Then he’ll understand. I’m sure he loves you and wants you to be happy.”_

“I know, but—”

 _“Nope. No buts,”_ Yixing quickly interrupts him with. _“Just think it over? Really think if you want to be in that school a year, two, five, ten years from now and would it make you happy. You haven’t talked about being happy at your job for a while now. All you do is pretty much complain.”_

“I do?” he asks. Chanyeol knew he ranted to Yixing a few times about not liking his job or some of his co-workers, but not enough for Yixing to notice. “Then I’ll think about quitting.”

 _“Good,”_ Yixing says, looking rather pleased.

There’s silence on both ends until Chanyeol’s stomach starts growling. “Uh, I haven’t eaten yet. I don’t want to leave, but I’m hungry and need to make dinner,” Chanyeol pouts, not wanting to leave his boyfriend. Chanyeol tries not to smile too toughly over finally being able to call Yixing his now.

 _“Take your laptop with you to the kitchen,”_ Yixing suggests. _“I don’t mind watching you cook. It’ll be nice. Like I’m kind of there in person.”_

So Chanyeol does as Yixing suggests and takes his laptop with him all the way into the kitchen and sets it down on the table. He makes sure to angle it so Yixing can see him standing over by the stove. Chanyeol then quickly moves to take a few vegetables, a pack of sausages, and leftover rice from the refrigerator.

 _“Ah, you look so tall baby,”_ Yixing says as Chanyeol takes an onion from his assortment of veggies and begins to chop it. _“Even taller than what you said.”_

“Is that a bad thing?” Chanyeol asks, feeling self-conscious. He knows a lot of alphas don’t like their omega or beta being taller, a lot taller than them.

 _“No. I think we’d be cute walking down the street together. Or to have you wrap your arms around me as I cook for us.”_ Chanyeol glances back to see Yixing staring at him, looking dazed as if he’s in a dream. It makes the sudden fear of Yixing randomly caring about height now of all times disappear and Chanyeol continues on with peacefully cutting up vegetables. _“You’re making me want to cook for you. I’m really good at this one dish.”_

“Oh? What is it?” Chanyeol turns around to pay attention to Yixing.

There’s mischief in his eyes and Yixing smirks when he says seriously, _“Toast.”_ Chanyeol groans loudly and gets back to finishing up chopping what’s left of the vegetables as Yixing snickers. A grin appears on Chanyeol’s face; he swears it’s from Yixing’s infectious laughter and not at how ridiculously funny his answer was. _“But I do know how to make a few dishes. I cook for my friends sometimes. Though one time I did make this noodle dish and it was too salty, but Jongdae ate it anyway and pretended like it was good,”_ he says in one breath.

“How’d you find out it was bad?”

 _“The very next day he came to me all shy and gently told me that it’s okay to use less salt in my cooking,”_ he explains. _“I didn’t know what to do but laugh. He became my official taste tester after that situation though. So I guess it turned out well anyway.”_

“That’s good.”

Chanyeol doesn’t say anything more, but Yixing doesn’t seem to mind as he cuts the sausage into tiny, circular pieces. Not when he turns the stove on to heat up the pan, along with the butter he tosses in. Neither Yixing nor Chanyeol say anything throughout the entire time it takes for Chanyeol to prepare dinner and Chanyeol finds that he doesn’t mind one bit, that he enjoys being in Yixing’s company with or without the conversation. It’s kind of weird considering Yixing isn’t physically with him, just an image on a computer screen, but it feels normal for him and Chanyeol assumes Yixing feels the same.

It’s only when Chanyeol sits down at the kitchen table, computer right across from him that Yixing says, _“Jongin texted me. He said we’re meeting in about thirty minutes. Is that okay?”_

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Chanyeol asks over a mouthful of food.

 _“You’re mine now and your opinion matters a lot more now. I don’t have to go out for drinks if you don’t want to,”_ he says. _“My alcohol tolerance is super low anyway. I won’t go if you want me to stay and talk to you.”_

“No, you should go hang out with your friends,” Chanyeol says and he tries his best not to frown over it. “I know we just got together today, but you should spend time with them if you can. We talk a lot and if your friends are anything like mine then they’re complaining about how they don’t see you enough.” Chanyeol can hardly remember the last time he truly spent time with his friends, when he wasn’t glued to his phone and they wanted to interact with someone other than their mate. It’s been that way lately, but Chanyeol can’t even say he’s bothered considering he’d probably be lonely without Yixing’s company even when he’s with them. “So go, but don’t get too drunk. I need you to be able to function enough to text me tomorrow.”

That makes Yixing smile. _“If you insist, I’ll go. But that also means I have to start getting ready now.”_

Chanyeol nods. “Then go,” he pouts. “But I expect a few photos of you in whatever it is you’re wearing out.”

 _“Is this not good enough?”_ Yixing asks as he looks down at his own attire.

“Yixing, my Yixing, there’s an orange stain on your shirt,” Chanyeol points out. “You need to change.”

Yixing looks down. _“Ah, you’re right. Guess I have to change too. We’ll talk tomorrow?”_ Chanyeol nods. _“Good night, Chanyeol baby.”_

“Goodnight, Yixing.”

It’s Yixing who signs off first, leaving Chanyeol alone with his thoughts. His first is to text Jiho telling him they can’t have sex anymore since he’s taken and to keep mum about it. The second is that he needs to come up with a cute nickname for Yixing soon. Saying my Yixing or just Xing once in a while just won’t do. The last is wondering whether he actually needs to tell his other friends or not. He knows Baekhyun and Sehun would be against it, as would Seulgi. Junmyeon and Sooyoung he thinks would be supportive, but Joohyun is a complete toss-up. After a few minutes of thinking, Chanyeol decides it’s best that Yixing is his little secret for now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dating Yixing turns out to be similar to just being friends with Yixing yet somehow so much better. They talk a little more, Yixing always making sure to fit at least one video call in a day if they can’t Skype late at night to end their day. Chanyeol feels like he’s floating on clouds every time Yixing calls him baby or checks to make sure he eats or sings to him when he’s had a bad day at work. Perfect doesn’t exist, but Yixing is pretty close to it. And then he doesn’t even mind when Chanyeol asks to speak to his friends whenever they pop into the studio, making him feel a bit closer to Yixing when they reveal little secrets or share silly stories. Jongdae, Jieqiong, Cheng Xiao, and of course Jongin are all so welcoming and from what he knows, hasn’t said a thing about their relationship being weird.

And while Yixing doesn’t push to be introduced to his friends, Chanyeol knows that deep down Yixing would love to meet them when he asks Chanyeol has he told anyone aside from Jiho and Seolhyun about their relationship. Chanyeol doesn’t miss the disappointment on Yixing’s face every time he says no. It’s selfish, really, to want to live in his own happy bubble with Yixing while he leaves his friends out due to fear of their reactions. He can’t let that stop them from being happy, so even if his friends call him stupid, he needs to let them know he’s not single anymore. He has an alpha looking after him now.

Unfortunately, it’s easier said than done. Chanyeol needs to hype himself up to actually tell them he’s dating Yixing first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It takes another week.

 _Today is going to be a good day,_ Chanyeol thinks as he finishes up the dishes. He’s already had breakfast and his apartment is squeaky clean thanks to Yixing talking him through cleaning it last night. He doesn’t have any errands to run and can use the day to relax and catch up on a few anime he’s been missing out on. Today feels like such a good day that he texts Yixing that he’s going to finally tell his friends about them and sorry he waited for so long.

 

 **XingXing [11:45AM]**  
_baby!!! really?!!!_  
_i’m....happy_  
_you make me happy_  
_chanyeol baby call me after_  
_so i can know how it goes_  
_i hope they’re happy for you_

 

 **Chanyeol [11:46AM]**  
_yes my yixing_  
_you make me happy too <3_  
_i’m telling them today_  
_but i have to get mentally ready for it_  
_i don’t want them to call me stupid :c_

 

 **XingXing [11:48AM]**  
_don’t worry_  
_if they love you, they’ll trust you_  
_you’re fully capable of making your own choices_  
_whatever they say_  
_i’ll be right here beside you_

 

 **Chanyeol [11:50AM]**  
_you’re right!!_  
_i’m going to call sehun and baekhyun_  
_get the hardest ones out the way first_  
_wish me luck_

 

Yixing sends a bunch of hearts and flowers and cute kakaotalk stickers in support.

_Okay._

He can do this. _You can do this!_ here shouldn’t be a secret like this amongst friends. Besides, they’re the ones who made him use the app in the first place so it isn’t that weird he found an alpha to date, even if long distance. A few weeks of living in bliss with only he and Yixing knowing of their true relationship status is more than enough. They were getting suspicious anyway.

Chanyeol pats his cheeks and breathes deep and picks up the phone to call Baekhyun. He picks up after the second ring.

 _“Hey, what’s up?”_ Baekhyun yawns. _“I was getting ready to nap.”_

“Oh, uh, nothing much. Nothing much,” Chanyeol says, hint of nervousness filling his voice as he drags each word out. “Just seeing what you were up to. I can call back later.”

 _“Spit it out. I know you want something,”_ he says and then teasingly adds, _“Your voice gets all shaky and high pitched when you do,”_ a few moments later.

“Well then um, can you and Sehun come over?” he asks directly, knowing there’s no point in stalling. “I need to tell you guys something.”

 _“What is it?”_ Baekhyun asks, tone switching to serious and Chanyeol can imagine his best friend sitting straight up and eyeing him intently. _“Tell me now. Do I need to beat another alpha’s ass?”_

 _Okay. I can’t do this!_ Chanyeol can’t do this when he can feel Baekhyun’s gaze through the phone. This conversation should be calm and put him at ease, not make him want to hide from his friends after speaking for barely a minute. It’s okay for him to live in his own little world with Yixing for a while longer.

“Erm, nothing now. I have coffee to make!” Chanyeol rushes out then proceeds to hang up on Baekhyun. “Woo, that would have been a mistake,” he says out loud to himself and laughs. He waits a few minutes to see if Baekhyun will call him back to interrogate him, but shockingly his friend doesn’t. Chanyeol shrugs and heads to the kitchen.

Coffee actually sounds like a good idea so Chanyeol does make himself a cup, adding peppermint creamer to calm his nerves. After warming up leftover stir fry in the microwave, Chanyeol sits at the kitchen table, ready to tell Yixing that he’s sorry for chickening out on telling his friends about them. He almost types the first word out until he hears loud, extremely loud knocking at his door.

With a sigh, Chanyeol places his plate and coffee mug into the microwave and heads to the door. As he steps closer, he can hear two distinct voices—Sehun and Baekhyun’s. He should have known they’d come. As soon as he opens the door, Chanyeol is dragged by the hands, courtesy of Baekhyun, and then sat gently down onto the couch. Baekhyun stands before him, arms crossed, as Sehun seats himself on Chanyeol’s right and links their hands together.

“Who hurt you?” Baekhyun asks all too demandingly.

Sehun rests his head on Chanyeol’s shoulder and quietly says, “Whatever it is, you can tell us.”

Chanyeol would find their worrying endearing if weren’t for the fact that they’re practically hovering over him. It makes him scared and anxious. “You’re stressing me out,” Chanyeol says weakly even though they both should be able to sense it.

“Sorry,” Baekhyun apologizes and ruffles Chanyeol’s hair. He then crouches down and takes Chanyeol’s free hand into his own. Softly, Baekhyun says, “Sehun is right. You can tell us anything.”

Of course he knows that, but hearing it makes Chanyeol relax. They are his friends, _best friends,_ and all that’ll come out of it is them saying they were right about the app. That’s nothing to stress over.

 _Okay! You can do this! For real this time,_ Chanyeol mentally hypes himself up. He opens his mouth and starts, “Well, it’s about Yixing. I mean us. Me and Yixing.” Baekhyun raises a brow as Sehun squeezes his hand for reassurance. “We’re, um, dating. We’ve been dating for these last few weeks.” Baekhyun’s lips immediately break out into a wide grin as Sehun sits up straight with a huff and lets go of his hand to cross his arms. Chanyeol glances over to see him pouting. “Sehun?” That wasn’t the reaction he expected or needed.

“Pay up,” Baekhyun smiles he holds out his hand in front of his mate. Sehun sighs as he pulls out his wallet and then starts placing single dollar bills onto Baekhyun’s palm. “You’re seriously going to give me all ones?” Sehun shrugs.

“Wait, what?” Chanyeol stutters, taken aback by what he thinks is a bet. _A bet on my love life?_ “Did you guys seriously bet on me and Yixing dating?”

Baekhyun nods excitedly while Sehun groans. “See, this is why I never liked you when we first met. My wallet is crying because of you. Again.”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes. “Sorry you didn’t bet on the right choice. _Again_ ,” he mocks, whiny tone included, and then feels a slap to the back of his head. “The fuck Baekhyun?”

“No sassing my mate,” he grins and starts to massage Chanyeol’s head. Sehun sticks his tongue out at Chanyeol. He does it right back, earning a pull on his ear from Baekhyun. “But, I’m really happy for you. I think Yixing is good for you.”

“You do?” Chanyeol asks and gently pushes Baekhyun away then rubs his own ear. “No thinking it’s weird?”

Sehun glances over to Baekhyun and shares a look with him before saying, “It’s a little weird that he isn’t more local, but whatever. You’re happy; we’re happy.”

“You’re honestly not that sneaky with your phone,” Baekhyun yawns and moves to sit on Sehun’s lap. Sehun wraps his arms around his mate. “We knew something was up when you barely pay attention to any of us.”

Chanyeol would chime in to say that’s mostly their fault for leaving him alone to have quality time with their mate amongst friends, but doesn’t.

“Plus Junmyeon’s a snitch,” Sehun says. “He said you spend most of your lunch breaks talking to Yixing after you’ve scarfed down your lunch.”

“He’s nice to talk to,” is all Chanyeol thinks to say, which isn’t a lie. “Do you want to meet him? He asked me to call him after I told you.”

“Yes! Then we can interrogate him,” Baekhyun smirks. “I’ll be good cop.”

“Please, he wouldn’t fall for any of that. Be right back.” Chanyeol hops off the couch to fetch his laptop. Once he’s returned he shoots a quick text to Yixing saying Baekhyun and Sehun want to meet him so he needs his computer. He joins his friends on the floor where Baekhyun is still in Sehun’s lap. Chanyeol waits for Yixing to call and Chanyeol immediately answers. “Hey,” Chanyeol waves.”

 _“Hi, Chanyeol,”_ Yixing softly says and it’s the most quiet Chanyeol has ever heard the alpha speak.

“This is Sehun,” Chanyeol points to his friend on his left, “and this is Baekhyun. They’re mates. And this of course is Yixing. My boyfriend.”

“Hi,” Sehun simply greets.

Baekhyun, on the other hand starts to question Yixing in quick succession with, “How long have you two been dating? Are you taking your relationship with Chanyeol seriously? Can I have access to all of your social media platforms? How old are you—Chanyeol never specified. What’s your favorite color? What do you do for a living? Can you support Chanyeol financially if he doesn’t work? Do you want kids? Have you ever spent a heat wit—”

Sehun covers Baekhyun’s mouth. “He’s rude. Sorry,” Sehun apologizes and Chanyeol covers his face with his hand from the embarrassment.

 _“Um, I really didn’t catch a single question,”_ Yixing drags out, obviously confused. _“I don’t mind answering them, but it was a lot? And you speak too fast.”_

“Baekhyun just means how can we trust you to not break Chanyeol’s heart?” Sehun asks. “He’s—he blindly puts his trust into people to the point where they might take advantage of him, so how do we know you’re not like that?”

“What he said. Good job babe,” Baekhyun says and turns to peck Sehun on the lips. Chanyeol tries not to be jealous. Not that he and Yixing would be having their first kiss by now or anything. “Tell us about yourself.”

“This isn’t a job interview Hyun,” Chanyeol grips and pinches his thigh. Baekhyun swats his hand away. “Can we just talk? Normally?” he sighs. “This wasn’t as hard with your friends. I’m sorry Xing, we should—could you two just be normal for once? We just started dating. Don’t ruin this for me,” he rambles.

“Sorry, sorry,” both Sehun and Baekhyun apologize in unison.

“Let’s just talk then!” Baekhyun half-shouts. “And really, sorry for earlier. We just love Chanyeol and want the best for him.”

 _“I understand,”_ Yixing says and looks directly at Chanyeol when he says, _“He deserves the world so it’s understandable his friends would be so protective over him.”_ Chanyeol feels his face flush pink. _“But please talk slowly.”_

From there, Sehun and Baekhyun do talk a bit slower and explain things Yixing doesn’t quite comprehend. They ask him simply get to know you kinds of questions and Chanyeol thinks that’s a whole lot better than the bombardment he got earlier. But of course Baekhyun or Sehun couldn’t keep their mouths shut and eventually Junmyeon and Seulgi show up which turns into Sooyoung and Joohyun stopping by as well. Seulgi and Junmyeon take to Yixing kindly, especially Junmyeon who calls Yixing _‘the hottest male alpha I’ve ever seen,’_ and Seulgi blames it on his upcoming heat, but they couldn’t miss a chance to meet the alpha that has Chanyeol so smitten. And since most of his friends were already here, Chanyeol invited Jiho and Seolhyun over and they showed up in no time. To Chanyeol’s surprise, Jiho and Yixing get along pretty well thanks to a shared love of music and even exchange katalk IDs. And Seolhyun is completely charmed by Yixing’s flirty nature and asks if he has any single alpha friends like himself.

Yixing meeting his friends goes beyond his expectations and Chanyeol can’t believe he was so worried before. He truly doesn’t know if they actually like Yixing at all, but it’s enough that they could at least pretend if they don’t.

“So what’d you think?” Chanyeol asks Yixing after Joohyun, Sooyoung, and Seolhyun depart, leaving his apartment friend-free.

 _“It was tough,”_ Yixing laughs. _“There were so many at once! I thought it’d be more like how I did it with my friends.”_

“Me too,” he says honestly. “But Sehun, I think, texted Junmyeon which means Seulgi would have texted either Sooyoung or Joohyun. And since everyone was already here, I thought might as well get it over with by inviting Jiho and Seolhyun as well.”

 _“I liked them the most. They were the least intimidating,”_ he thoughtfully states. _“I thought Jiho would be—I don’t know. I thought we wouldn’t get along well considering you two used to have sex.”_

“Ah, don’t bring that up!” Chanyeol stammers through bashfully. “Let’s talk about, um, your wolf form! What do you look like in your wolf form?”

_“Nice try.”_

“Damn. Thought I had you this time,” he says playfully.

Hardly any wolf would show or even hint at what they look like to a potential mate. The first time their wolves meet is supposed to be for a claiming. To make it special or something. Chanyeol never really understood it, especially since Sehun and Baekhyun were playing together since they were pups. It didn’t make their claiming any less special from what he was told. But Yixing is kind of traditional, so he’ll just have to wait.

 _“But I think everything went well all things considered,”_ Yixing states. _“I’m happy I finally met them.”_

“Me too,” Chanyeol smiles.

They don’t stay up chatting with each other thanks to Yixing having a meeting early in the morning. But Chanyeol goes to bed that night, relief washing over him that one of the hard parts over their relationship is over.

Things can only go up from here.


	3. THREE

Everything is great until it isn’t.

Because a few more months in, their relationship doesn’t feel as new? Fulfilling? _Something_ is missing. Chanyeol likes Yixing, _really likes him_ and wouldn’t trade him for any other wolf in the world, but something is off. Chanyeol wouldn’t say their relationship is stalling, but he can’t quite figure out why it feels like it should be progressing more.

Chanyeol reads over their texts, and nothing has changed on that front. Yixing still calls him baby and sometimes angel and says how much they really match and belong together. He’s even more attracted to Yixing than the day he first saw his picture on Forelskape. He can barely go a day without hearing Yixing’s voice or getting a text and hates when work keeps Yixing too busy. All it’s doing is making him _and_ his wolf restless. Nothing makes sense.

But of course he’s brought out of his thoughts when he gets a text from Junmyeon telling him he’s downstairs. Chanyeol quickly grabs his wallet and phone before putting on his sneakers and making his way outside. The heat feels suffocating already and Chanyeol eagerly hops into Junmyeon’s car.

“Hey,” Junmyeon says when Chanyeol’s all settled and buckled in. “Ready?”

“Yup. And hi,” Chanyeol says right back. Junmyeon drives. “How are things with you and Seulgi?”

“Good, good,” he answers. “We’re thinking of trying for a pup during my next heat,” he informs with a forced smile. “I don’t know if I’m ready yet though.”

That’s shocking. The last time he and Junmyeon had baby talk, Junmyeon couldn’t wait to be a dad. “Really? Why?”

“You know how we went to the anime expo and spent a lot of money we probably shouldn’t have?” Chanyeol remembers that all too clearly. He came back with so much fanart and fanmade merchandise he struggled to find a place for it all. Luckily his finances weren’t hit at all thanks to Yixing saying he wanted to spoil his omega. Those words made Chanyeol wish he could dive right into his computer screen and kiss Yixing. “I left feeling like I should do that for a bit longer than having a pup right now.”

“Is there a but?”

“Unfortunately,” he sighs. “Seulgi seems so excited about having one that I don’t think she’s noticed that I’ve been a bit quiet on the subject. I don’t want to let her down, but I think we need more “us time” before we have kids. After that, I won’t be able to do as much, or maybe I will with a budget. But now is my time to explore and see the world and I haven’t traveled as much as I’d like either. My parents said they’d pay for any trip I want to take, but you know me. I want to be independent from them. It’s just—hard.”

Chanyeol rests his hand over Junmyeon’s and gives it a light squeeze in comfort before pulling it back. “I don’t really know what to say other than you need to talk to her. I’m sure she’ll be understanding. She loves you.”

“Yeah, but you know how dominating alphas can get? She’s kind of like that sometimes despite working for an omega rights firm and I have to remind her to tone it down a bit. I don’t know how she’ll react with me wanting to push kids back a bit further. I don’t even remember the last time we went on vacation together. She spends so much time at work.”

“Just tell her what you just told me. It’d give you two more time to save up for a kid anyway. They’re _expensive._ ”

Junmyeon laughs. “You’re right. I don’t know why I’m overthinking this. I’m young, she’s young, so it’s not like we’re pressed for time. I think she just hears my talks with Sehun and the idea of kids gets stuck in her mind.”

“Sehun is a bit different though. He and Baekhyun have known each other since they were running around as pups. It’s natural that they’d want kids while we’re all still trying to get ourselves together.”

“True. I think I might talk to her tonight about this. You’re having a fresh start today; maybe this could be one for us too.”

Chanyeol hums and their conversation on having kids seems to cease there. The rest of their time is spent reminiscing over the anime expo a few weeks back. Soon, Junmyeon is pulling up to Oasis.

“You ready?” Junmyeon asks as his car comes to a halt.

“I have a good feeling about this,” Chanyeol smiles, slowly opening the door. “Don’t miss me too much.”

“I’m sure Sooyoung will be a lovely replacement. I just pray she doesn’t quit in less than a year either.”

“I held on for more than half of one!” Chanyeol says as he exits the car. “Tell me how she does.”

“Let me know how it goes.”

“I will.” Chanyeol watches as Junmyeon drives off then walks into Oasis with a smile plastered on his face. _Please let this be it._ “Hello Kyungsoo, Jihyun,” Chanyeol greets as he walks over to the counter where both betas are still setting up for the day. He’s handed a yellow apron with Oasis neatly written right across the top and puts it on.

“I can’t believe it took you this long to admit you wanted to work here,” Jihyun says as she continues to set all the packaged bread onto their proper shelfs. “I think we might need to order more ingredients for mocha bread babe. It’s running out unusually fast.”

“Some footballer said it was one of his favorite snacks and it’s getting sold out everywhere,” Kyungsoo says. “Kim Minseok, I think.”

That name sounds familiar. Maybe he knew a Kim Minseok in high school or something. “So when do I start getting to work?” Chanyeol asks.

“First I’m going to show you around,” says Kyungsoo. “Then you’re going to learn the ropes of stocking the shelves and taking inventory as a just in case Jihyun or I can’t do it and handling the register before moving on to your final test of baking. One step at a time,” he explains. “Let’s start in the back and try to fit in as much as we can before we open.”

“Okay.” Chanyeol’s fascinated by everything already.

It takes about an hour and a half for Kyungsoo to show Chanyeol the entirety of Oasis, stopping to explain how certain machinery works or what different kitchen tools are called and used for. He has to stop every now and then to help Jihyun with a customer or baking. Kyungsoo then teaches Chanyeol how to use the register which isn’t too much different from any other place he’s worked at so he learns fast and rings up a few customers with Kyungsoo by his side. A few hours in, Kyungsoo leaves him to himself to handle the register. When there’s a lull in business, Chanyeol uses his time to make sure all the pastries and other goods are neatly in place and wipes down a table or two when they’re left empty by customers.

Chanyeol’s so amazed and can’t believe he didn’t quit his previous job sooner. He could have been working here all this time instead of being stuck at some dull school. No shame to Junmyeon or Sooyoung. Chanyeol _loves_ his job on the first day and if Chanyeol was being honest with himself, it’s something he hasn’t felt in forever. Kyungsoo and Jihyun being so friendly and helpful is a major plus. Back at the school, and even previous jobs, it always felt like he was being watched like they were waiting for him to screw up. But Kyungsoo or Jihyun take the time to show him why he messed up an order and how to fix it with such kindness.

When he’s sent home for the day, it’s only then that he realizes that he has a few texts from Yixing asking how his day went and if he liked his new job. He didn’t check his phone once during the entire day, even during his lunch break where he sat with Jihyun and learned a little about her and shared a few things about himself. He texts Yixing asking if he’s free to talk when he gets home, but only gets a crying cat sticker in reply. If Yixing is just sending stickers, he must be really busy.

So Chanyeol spends his evening without talking to his boyfriend and asks Baekhyun and Sehun if they’re free. They aren’t, and Chanyeol decides to just watch TV. But that only leads to him thinking of Yixing and why there’s something not quite right with their relationship. He comes up with nothing.

He’s ready to call it an early night and fall asleep listening to Taemin’s latest CD when he gets a text from Yixing. _Hurry and get to your computer! i don’t have much free time,_ it reads. Chanyeol yawns despite not really being tired and makes his way to his bedroom. He opens his laptop and signs into Skype, and immediately gets an incoming video call from Yixing. He answers right away and nearly chokes on his own spit and falls out his chair.

Yixing is _shirtless._

Yixing is shirtless and Chanyeol has never wanted to meet Yixing more in person than he does now. Yixing is shirtless and Chanyeol can’t help but stare at his collarbones that he wants to mark all of a sudden before moving up his neck and then his lips. And he really wants to ask Yixing to scoot back a little so the view doesn’t just stop at the top of his chest. It’s outright unfair that Yixing is shirtless.

Yixing is shirtless and it clicks.

Suddenly Chanyeol feels the heat rise his chest all the way to his cheeks. Of course it makes sense that Chanyeol would want Yixing to fuck him; wolves have always been sexual beings and Chanyeol is no different. Chanyeol wants sex and he realizes now that their relationship has stalled in his eyes at least because of it. There’s an almost overwhelming need to be dominated by Yixing and Chanyeol breathes in deep to keep himself from whining. He begins to wonder if Yixing feels it too.

 _“Chanyeol baby, are you okay? You almost fell out your chair and your eyes are getting really dark, why?”_ Yixing asks in a rush. _“Baby?”_

Chanyeol blinks a few times and shakes his head, hoping his eyes are back to normal. “Oh! It’s nothing. Absolutely nothing. We should talk about my first day at the bakery!” Chanyeol stutters through awkwardly, hoping Yixing buys it. He’d rather not talk about wanting Yixing’s knot so soon, at least not until he finds the proper words to not embarrass himself over it.

 _“If you say so,”_ Yixing says unsurely. _“How was the bakery? And your bosses?”_

“Great!” he exclaims. After he clears his throat he says more calmly, “They were great.”

 _“You’re still jumpy baby,”_ Yixing observes. _“Are you sure nothing is wrong? Did something happen?”_

Chanyeol shakes his head. “I swear nothing’s going on.” _Aside from the fact that you’re shirtless like it’s no big deal._ Chanyeol glances around his room to see a half drunken bottle of water and reaches for it to take a sip before saying, “Really, I wouldn’t keep anything from you. But my day was good. I learned a lot.” Hopefully Yixing leaves it at that.

 _“That’s good. So you like it?”_ he asks.

“I do,” Chanyeol grins. Yixing pushes his chair back a little to pick up something from the ground and place it off to the side, but now Chanyeol can see _even more_ of his chest. Yixing doesn’t scoot up and keeps the same position. _Don’t drool._ Chanyeol starts to twist in his chair repeatedly to not stare directly at Yixing’s chest. “Kyungsoo and Jihyun are really nice and they helped me a lot today. I have to work on Saturdays too, but only for a half day like Fridays. I think I could be happy there.”

Yixing smiles fondly. _“My Chanyeol. I’m happy for you. Will you learn how to bake?”_

“Kyungsoo said eventually, but they want me to get the hang of other things before then. I just worked at the cash register today. And made sure stuff was all neat and clean. It was an easy first day.”

_“Ah. When you learn how to bake, you’ll send me treats, right?”_

“I can always send something from Oasis now.”

_“But I want them made specifically from you.”_

“Okay,” Chanyeol says softly with a nod. He feels even happier than before. _Yixing wants me to bake for him!_ It probably won’t be as delicious as anything Kyungsoo or Jihyun could make, but he’ll try his best for Yixing. “I will when I can make something halfway decent.”

_“I’m looking forward to it then.”_

“So how was work today?”

Yixing answers him, but most of what he says doesn’t register in Chanyeol’s mind because his focus leads him back to Yixing’s chest once he stops swiveling in his chair. It’s unfair that Yixing is shirtless and Chanyeol can’t hold him or touch him or appreciate his body like he now wants to. It’s unfair and Chanyeol has no idea how he’s supposed to bring this up to Yixing. And what are they even supposed to do once they talk about how Chanyeol would really love Yixing’s knot in him a million times.

Then Chanyeol only pays attention to Yixing when he sees his boyfriend waving at the screen.

 _“Did you hear anything I just said?”_ Yixing asks.

“Uh, kind of?” Chanyeol give an apologetic smile. “Sorry.”

 _“What’s got you so distracted Chanyeol baby?”_ Yixing asks. _You,_ is Chanyeol’s immediate thought, but he can’t voice that out loud. _“I said they’re calling me back to the studio, so I have to go.”_

“Already?” Maybe he should have paid more attention to Yixing than just his body. “Text me if you have time then. I’ll miss you.”

 _“I’ll always have time for you Chanyeol baby.”_ That makes Chanyeol grin from ear to ear. _“I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Bye-bye Chanyeol.”_

“No baby?” he frowns.

_“You’re cute. Bye-bye Chanyeol baby.”_

“Bye my Yixing.”

 _“I want to hear the other nickname too,”_ Yixing says and puckers out his lips cutely.

“Bye Honey,” he singsongs and then makes a heart sign with both hands and Yixing does the same.

As soon as Yixing signs off, Chanyeol is rushing off to dig in his bottom dresser drawer for his trusty blue vibrator. Guess Jiho’s dick wasn’t enough to get him through five years of no sex.

That night, Chanyeol has far too many thoughts of imagining Yixing fucking him, _knotting him,_ making him come far too many times to count.

It keeps him sated for one day.

And Chanyeol thinks he might end up breaking a few of his toys from overuse by the end of the month if this keeps up because Yixing is shirtless again the next time.

And the next.

And for the one after.

And then the one after Yixing’s fresh out the shower, hair still wet, and Chanyeol has to stop himself from concentrating on the tiny droplets of water that drip down Yixing’s chest to focus on Yixing’s story of whatever. It’s maddening and if Yixing wasn’t Yixing, he’d think he was driving him crazy on purpose. Then again, he could want more from their relationship and is really doing it on purpose to get him to be the one to initiate something.

There are too many what ifs or why and Chanyeol can’t handle it anymore. He needs Yixing to give him some kind of relief.

 _“Chanyeol baby, you’re um, fidgeting. A lot,”_ Yixing says after he drinks some of his coffee. _“Why are you so restless? Bad day?”_

Of course Yixing can tell something is off. Chanyeol shakes his head and tries to be as still as possible as he thinks on how to say he’s been getting off to the thought of Yixing fucking him for the last week and a half.

“I just been um, thinking about some things,” he nervously says and takes another bite of his food. _Just ask him,_ he tells himself. Yixing is his boyfriend and a conversation like this is completely fine. “And so I’ve been thinking, what do you do to get yourself off?” Chanyeol asks around a mouthful of pizza bread as his cheeks flush pink. Maybe Yixing won’t understand and Chanyeol can play it off with a similar sounding question that he’s yet to think of as a backup plan.

_“Use my hand,” Yixing answers, even waving his hand on the screen, and asks in return, “What else could I do?”_

_So he did hear._ He swallows his food and puts the rest off to the side on his nightstand to eat later. Chanyeol then averts his eyes and stumbles through a quiet, “Well, you’re an alpha and all and—and we’re long distance—and, and so it wouldn’t be surprising if you used an omega or two. And maybe even a beta,” from not being able to think of another reason. Chanyeol glances up but quickly looks right back down when he sees dark, _hurt_ eyes glaring at the screen.

 _“Baby, look at me,”_ Yixing commands and Chanyeol has no choice but to face his boyfriend. Yixing’s eyes return to their natural state and with a sigh, Yixing says, _“Am I single, Chanyeol?”_

“No,” he answers, terrified.

_“Then do you think so little of me that you actually think I’d cheat on you?”_

“No, but—I don’t know,” Chanyeol whispers and he wants to cry. He didn’t mean to imply Yixing would cheat on him and now he’s gone and made his boyfriend, the one wolf who means the most to him upset. But he continues to say, “You’re so handsome and smart and you could have anyone but you’re with an omega in an entirely different country.”

 _“Chanyeol, if I wanted another wolf, then we’d still be friends. Just friends,”_ Yixing says, emphasizing the last of his words. _“I don’t really know how I can reassure you that I want you and I’m not going anywhere, but please trust me and we’ll be okay.”_

“I’m sorry,” he nearly cries.

 _“It’s fine. I mean, it isn’t like the thought of another wolf coming along to take you away from me hasn’t crossed my mind so please don’t cry.”_ That takes Chanyeol by surprise and calms him down. He thought Yixing was super confident in them, or at least in Chanyeol never cheating on him. Or maybe Chanyeol knows he wouldn’t cheat so he thought Yixing thought the same. _“But I’m trusting you, even if other wolves call me stupid.”_

“Really?”

 _“Really,”_ Yixing repeats. _“Of course it’s hard not being with you in person and even Jongin sometimes says I should try dating locally despite how supportive he’s been.”_ Yixing then looks down as he says, _“But I want you. Just you and they or any other wolf isn’t changing that. I don’t know what it is about you, but I always want to stay by your side, long distance or not,”_ pink tint to his cheeks. _I can’t imagine a day without you and I’m always thinking of you—your smile, your laugh, have you eaten enough, are your friends treating you okay. I worry about you a lot and am always thinking of ways I can make you happy so you really have nothing to worry about. I meant it when I said you were mine._ My omega.

Chanyeol’s mouth opens, but nothing comes out. Every word that leaves Yixing’s lips leave Chanyeol in awe that someone could come to care about him this much. It gives him the reassurance he needs to know that they’re in this for the long haul. “Yixing?” Said wolf hums and looks up. “I love you so you don’t have to worry about me going anywhere. I want to stay by your side too.” Yixing’s mouth droops open and Chanyeol uses the chance to continue, “I always have these thoughts about how I want to be the perfect omega, the perfect _mate_ for you and it makes me all giddy and excited to think about a future with you. And I know it’s because I love you.”

 _“Ch-Chanyeol—you—repeat what you just said,”_ he stammers through. _“Tell me again.”_

“Which part?” he teases and Yixing glares at him. Chanyeol laughs before saying, “Yixing, my Yixing, my love, I love you.”

Yixing’s mouth breaks into a grin, smiling widely and eyes darkening to a dark violet. _“I love you too Chanyeol.”_ There’s a comfortable silence that fills the air until Yixing smirks and Chanyeol is left confused by Yixing’s expression. _“Now, get comfy.”_

“Why?” Chanyeol asks.

 _“You wanted to know how I get off, don’t you?”_ Yixing asks in return and Chanyeol nods eagerly. Yixing gets up quickly to grab something from his drawer that he sets off to the side. Chanyeol nearly squeals from seeing Yixing’s sweats hang low on his hips. _“Then I’m going to show you.”_

_Oh._

_Wait._

_What?_

“You’re—we—now?” Chanyeol asks, stumbling over his words. “You’re going to _show me_?”

 _“Do you not want to?”_ he asks, turning his chair back and forth lightly.

“Oh my gods. Wait—I—I get to see you—wow.” Chanyeol almost can’t believe this is actually happening. What he’s been waiting for is finally happening. “Holy shit. We’re really doing this.” Chanyeol pats his face to make sure he isn’t dreaming.

 _“We don’t have to,”_ he says, crossing his arms.

“No, gods, I want—I want to see,” Chanyeol says a little too enthusiastically, even getting closer to his screen. It makes Yixing chuckle. “ _I need to._ I’ve been getting off to you since you started showing up shirtless. You fucking me. You knotting me. _Everything_ I could think of. I need this.” Chanyeol doesn’t even care if he sounds a bit desperate.

Yixing smirks before adjusting his screen and body to where just his abdomen and lap show. _This is it._ Yixing wastes no time in running his hand over his crotch, until Chanyeol can tell that’s he’s fully hard. Then Yixing continues to palm at his erection, giving light squeezes every so often. Chanyeol almost wants to tell Yixing to hurry up, but doesn’t. He needs to let Yixing do this his way. So Chanyeol waits, anticipating when Yixing will get tired of teasing himself through the fabric of his sweats and let his cock free.

Thank the gods it doesn’t take much longer for Yixing to reach into his pants and pull his cock out and Chanyeol swallows hard at the sight. Yixing’s dick is more length than girth, but Chanyeol knows it’d be perfect making him feel entirely too full when he pushes inside. And it’s such a pretty color starting at the base with his natural skin tone until it blends into a peachy shade near the head. Then he finally sees it, Yixing’s knot at the base of his dick. It hasn’t expanded yet, but Chanyeol can already picture Yixing fucking him and his knot slowly stretching him open to far more than what he’s used to until he can no longer pull out, tying them together.

Chanyeol just stares, knowing Yixing’s cock was meant to be worshipped until he then sees Yixing take whatever he grabbed earlier from the side and Chanyeol sees that it’s a bottle of lube. He pours a tiny amount directly onto his dick and tosses the bottle aside, a thud echoing in the background. Yixing then slumps a little further into his chair and begins moving his hand unhurriedly along the shaft. He switches between stroking himself unrushed and hurriedly, letting out soft moans that makes Chanyeol want to swallow each one with a kiss.

 _“Baby,”_ Yixing breathes out, voice low as he teases the head of his cock with one hand and the other massages his balls before he moves back to stroking his cock. Chanyeol imagines closed eyes and a pouty bottom lip caught between teeth.

Yixing then uses both hands to twist and slide along his cock and Chanyeol sees his knot slowly expanding. It’s downright mesmerizing and Chanyeol begins to feel uncomfortable in his own underwear. He’s all too hot, but his focus is on Yixing and Chanyeol can’t be bothered to force his grip away from his thighs. So he lets his nails dig deep into skin as he watches Yixing’s knot expand until it doesn’t any longer. He watches Yixing as he starts to lose what rhythm he had and tugs on his cock fast until his breath hitches and he sees Yixing shudder. Chanyeol’s eyes go wide, amazed at how much Yixing comes over his chest and then hand. He loses his breath at the thought of licking Yixing clean.

Minutes pass and there’s a bit of shuffling before Yixing’s face comes back into view and he looks completely blissed out.

 _“Happy?”_ Yixing asks as he reaches for something—tissue—and wipes his hand clean. Chanyeol notes how he lets the come on his chest sit. Chanyeol can only nod vigorously. _“So, do you want to show me too?”_ he asks, catching Chanyeol off guard once again.

“You really want to see?” Chanyeol asks just to be sure and the roll of Yixing’s eyes and a smile is enough of an answer. He’s never done cam sex, but they’re already halfway in and it’d be a waste to not show Yixing a thing when all Chanyeol can think about right now is getting off. “Let me move then.” Chanyeol picks up his laptop and brings it over with him to his dresser and sets it on the floor. He sits down right down in front of it and pulls his drawer open, looking over all the toys kept inside. He starts digging.

 _“What are you doing?”_ Yixing asks. _“I can only see part of you. At a bad angle.”_

“Going through my toy drawer,” he answers. He picks up a red vibrator and tosses it to the bed. _That won’t do._ “I want you to see me ride the perfect one.”

 _“Chanyeol baby,”_ Yixing groans and Chanyeol looks over to his computer to see his boyfriend covering his eyes with his arm. There’s a small chuckle from Chanyeol before he continues looking. Yixing then asks, _“Do you have one with an artificial knot?”_

Chanyeol shakes his head even though Yixing can’t see. “No, I—don’t want a fake knot.”

_“Oh? Is the real thing that much better?”_

“Wouldn’t know,” he shrugs and finally finds the perfect toy after a few minutes of looking and debating—a dildo with a suction cup attached at the end. It doesn’t match the length of Yixing’s dick by being a bit shorter, but it’s just about as thick. But Chanyeol mostly picked it out for its purple shade, reminding Chanyeol of the violet hue that overtakes Yixing’s natural brown eyes when he talks about something he loves. Chanyeol hopes he gets to see that change soon, letting him know that Yixing would be enjoying this just as much as him.

Chanyeol grabs a bottle of lube and closes the drawer and adjusts his laptop so his bottom half is in perfect view. He then sits cross-legged, awaiting Yixing’s command despite so badly wanting to touch himself. He needs to be a good omega.

 _“Chanyeol baby, what are you waiting for?”_ Yixing asks when the seconds tick by and Chanyeol sits with his fists clenched at his sides.

“For you to tell me what to do?” Chanyeol asks right back, now questioning if he was supposed to or not. “Shouldn’t I go by your orders?”

Yixing lets out a soft chuckle. “ _No, you don’t have to baby. Just let me watch you.”_

Chanyeol nods slowly and moves to take off his boxer briefs and decides to leave his shirt on. It barely covers his dick, but he figures that really doesn’t matter when he’ll be touching it shortly enough for Yixing to see. His bare ass hits the wood floor, groaning when he slides a bit when he tries to make himself more comfortable. He really should have put down a towel. Chanyeol then grabs the lube and he’s probably already wet enough just from watching Yixing alone, but adds a bit of extra lube to the dildo just in case. The dildo is then placed onto the floor, standing up right behind him, and Chanyeol tugs on it a few times to make sure the suction cup actually sticks; it does.

Chanyeol lifts himself on his knees and lines the tip of the toy against his rim. He gives himself three seconds before he begins to sink down onto the toy until he can’t any longer and rests his palms flat on his thighs. A small whimper leaves his lips as he begins to rock down on the toy, swiveling his hips just a bit to create a soft pressure against his prostate. When he thinks to open his eyes, he looks to the computer screen to see Yixing completely entranced by him.

“Yixing,” Chanyeol breathes out. “Gods you feel so—” He doesn’t get to finish his sentence from the semi-loud moan escapes his lips.

 _“Baby, can you touch yourself for me? Hm?”_ Yixing says and Chanyeol automatically reaches for his dick, using his fingers to lightly glide along his length and tease the head every now and then.

When tugging at his dick and lazily, _barely_ moving off the toy isn’t enough, Chanyeol grinds down just a bit harder, a little faster until he starts to bounce himself up and down on the toy, imagining as if he was really riding Yixing.

 _“Gods Yixing—”_ Chanyeol nearly cries when he leans back, palms flat against the floor and rocks on the toy. He then starts to move as fast as he can, the thought of coming as soon as possible on his mind. Chanyeol wraps his hand around his cock and tugs without any sort of rhythm, only wanting to come as fast as possible. It doesn’t take much more effort as he clenches around the toy and topples over as he comes. There’s no loud moan, only the soft, repeated murmur of Yixing’s name.

When the high wears off and his dick is too sensitive to touch, Chanyeol weakly slumps forward completely to the ground and reaches behind himself to pull the dildo free. He adjusts his laptop screen so his face can be in partial view. It’s then he notices Yixing’s labored breath and chest coated in even more come. The thought of swallowing it all down won’t leave his mind and Chanyeol moans at the thought of Yixing getting off for a second time. He then whines, wishing they could do this in person.

 _“Chanyeol baby, you okay?”_ Yixing asks, voice a bit raspy.

It takes a good minute for Chanyeol to nod sluggishly, still a bit in disbelief that they just had cam sex. He then yawns, “Yeah, I just—that was—amazing,” with a smile.

Yixing smirks, _“It was.”_ There’s a brief pause before he asks, _“Think you can come again?”_ and Chanyeol’s eyes go wide.

“A—again?” Chanyeol stutters and suddenly he feels all too hot, knowing he’s in for a long night. Yixing nods slowly and Chanyeol can tell his hand is already back on his cock. Chanyeol swallows hard and gives out a shaky, “Okay,” and then more confidently adds, “Want to see what other toys I have?” when it clicks for the nth time that Yixing is his boyfriend and he truly wants to please him.

Yixing eyes him curiously, brow raising before saying a low, _“Show me.”_

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chanyeol whistles as he works to neatly plate trays of cookies and muffins and other baked goods for the display case. The high of yesterday, of these last weeks not having worn off in the slightest ever since they added cam sex to their relationship. Chanyeol doesn’t think he’s ever come so much because of one alpha, a long distance one at that. But Yixing is special, Chanyeol thinks, and wouldn’t trade what they have for any other local wolf. Long distance may be difficult with how much he wishes, how much he craves for Yixing to be here in person. He loves Yixing and he’s worth spending every second of his day on.

“You’ve been happier lately,” Kyungsoo comments as he adds vanilla frosting to the cooled down chocolate cupcakes. “Some alpha knot got you like this?”

“Or beta?” Jihyun chimes in with as she continues mixing cake batter. “Maybe even an omega. Remember Chanyeol—ah leave a few for Chanyeol to practice the rose tip pipes on—Chanyeol said aspects didn’t matter.”

“Right, so tell us,” Kyungsoo says and puts the piping bag down. He takes off the nozzle to exchange it for the rose tip one. He leans against the counter to listen.

“Uh, well, um, I made progress with my boyfriend,” Chanyeol answers and he sees both bosses nose flare, sniffing the air a little.

“Really? We never scent anyone on you,” Kyungsoo says.

“It’s long distance; he lives in Beijing, but he makes me happy so I’m just happy.” Chanyeol then takes five unfrosted cupcakes and sets them on an unused dish. “I’m happy,” he repeats with a wide grin.

“Oh? What’s he look like?” Jihyun asks. “Is he cute?”

“Of course!” Chanyeol beams. “He’s perfect really.” He’s ready to show Jihyun and Kyungsoo a picture of Yixing when he gets another idea. “Can I video call him now?” Chanyeol asks. He recalls Yixing saying he was going to spend the day at home so he shouldn’t be too busy. Plus he’d like to think his bosses are his friends now and them meeting Yixing should definitely happen.

Jihyun glances over into the store area and so does Chanyeol. There aren’t any incoming customers, just a few sitting ones. “Sure, we aren’t too busy,” Jihyun says. “Not too long though.”

“And I want you two to meet him. We’re kind of friends?” They eat lunch together when they can and sometimes dinner. Chanyeol texts both of them frequently and the betas are always sending him movie recommendations. That’s being friends, Chanyeol thinks. And it would be nice if he could get their opinion on Yixing.

Both Kyungsoo and Jihyun light up.

“We should properly hang out soon then,” Kyungsoo says. “Call your boyfriend now. The evening rush will start soon.”

Chanyeol takes out his phone and video calls Yixing. He picks up on the third ring.

 _“Chanyeol baby! Hi,”_ Yixing greets. _“Oh, I think you’re somewhere different.”_

“Hey Love,” he sings. “I want you to meet my boss. Bosses. Both of them.”

 _“Really? Now? I just woke up and look horrible,”_ Yixing pouts.

“Told you to go start making a better sleeping schedule. You should be up by now anyway,” Chanyeol lightly scolds. Yixing hardly looks bad anyway. His hair is just a bit ruffled and he doesn’t have a shirt on, but he looks fine. “Now, this is Jihyun,” he says pointing to the beta right next to him, “and that’s Kyungsoo in the background. They’re my bosses. We also have this part-timer named Taeyong but he’s not here right now. He was recently hired.”

“It’s nice to meet you Yixing. Want to watch Chanyeol frost some cupcakes for a minute?” Jihyun asks Yixing.

“He never lets me watch him make music so there’s no need,” Chanyeol says before anyone else can get a word in. He can’t embarrass himself in front of Yixing.

“Don’t be petty,” Kyungsoo says suddenly, walking over to Chanyeol and Jihyun. “Hand me the phone and you teach him babe.”

“I don’t want him to see me mess up,” Chanyeol whines, bottom lip jutting out. “He’s only supposed to see me when I’m a cupcake master.”

“You’re learning Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo gently reminds. “Now, phone.” He holds out his hand expectantly and Chanyeol reluctantly gives his phone to Kyungsoo.

As soon as Kyungsoo has Chanyeol’s phone ready, Jihyun pulls Chanyeol over to the counter.

“Watch me carefully,” Jihyun says as she grabs the pipe bag, checking to make sure the right tip is on. “Now unlike the first one I taught you, we start in the center and slowly move outward in a spiral,” she says and takes one of the cupcakes Chanyeol set aside right in front of her. “Like this.” She then carefully, expertly moves the piping bag from center to near end. “And once we reach the end, we swipe away at an angle to keep it pretty.” She hands the piping bag over to Chanyeol and moves out of the way so Kyungsoo can get a better view of Chanyeol. “Now you try.”

Chanyeol grabs an unfrosted cupcake and starts in the center just like Jihyun directed. When he’s done, it’s not as neat and he may have put too much pressure on the bag causing the frosting to go on thicker as well. “It’s a mess,” Chanyeol sighs.

“It’s good for a first attempt,” Kyungsoo says and hands Chanyeol back his phone. “You have three more to do when you’re done talking to Yixing. You got five minutes.”

“It was nice meeting you Yixing,” Jihyun says as she pops into the frame to wave at Yixing. He waves back.

 _“It was nice meeting you too. Thank you for taking care of my Chanyeol,”_ Yixing smiles.

“If you hurt him, we’re flying to Beijing to kick your ass,” is all Kyungsoo says as a goodbye and shoves Chanyeol out the kitchen.

Chanyeol goes to sit at one of the empty tables for customers. “So, what’d you think?” he asks as soon as he’s seated.

 _“The cupcake looked delicious. I think it was cute and you should bake me some and send them off,”_ Yixing answers.

“My bosses honey,” Chanyeol clarifies with a short laugh. “What’d you think of them?”

_“Ah, I like them. They’re betas? They both kind of give off an alpha vibe.”_

If Chanyeol didn’t know any better, he’d agree. “Well Kyungsoo’s alpha dominant. Jihyun is omega dominant,” Chanyeol recalls them mentioning in passing once in a conversation he wasn’t part of. Or maybe it was the opposite. He’ll have to ask them officially one day. “It could also be the other way around. I was kind of eavesdropping.”

 _“Ah,”_ he says with a bob of his head. _“Either way, they’re lucky if they want kids.”_

Chanyeol knows other options are available, but it would suck if mates were both alpha or omega dominant and they wanted bio pups from the both of them. “Yeah,” Chanyeol agrees. But speaking of kids,” he asks, “Have you ever thought of having kids?”

 _“I want five,”_ he states without hesitation. Yixing must have thought about kids long before he met Chanyeol to put a number on how many pups he’d raise. _“Two girls and three boys,” he adds._

“Oh my gods. You’ve thought that far?”

_“Yup. Well, when I met you I thought of those kinds of things.”_

Chanyeol tries to hide a smile, but fails. “A big family sounds nice.”

 _“You think so?”_ Yixing asks, grinning.

“Yeah. We’d make great dads,” he beams. He can imagine Yixing running around the house chasing after them while he’s trying out a new cake recipe. They’d be happy as parents. “Plus my parents would be happy at all the grandkids. My sister only has two right now.” Chanyeol hears the door chime and he sees that more customers are starting to show up. On cue, he sees Jihyun mouth a _‘say goodbye,’_ and waves him over. “My five minutes are up. I’m working a little late today, but we’ll talk soon. Bye honey. Love you.”

_“Of course. Bye baby. Love you too.”_

Chanyeol hangs up and speed walks his way to the register, bumping into one of the bread shelves on the way. He then takes over the register from Jihyun, getting back to work.

 

 

 

“So what’d you think of Yixing?” Chanyeol asks as he sweeps the floor. Kyungsoo turns off the open sign.

“He was cute and quiet,” Jihyun says as she emerges from the back. “I think that kind of wolf balances you out.”

“Am I not cute?” Chanyeol asks.

“The cutest,” Jihyun says in a baby-like tone when she comes over and reaches up to pinch Chanyeol’s cheek. “We haven’t talked to him more properly, but I think he’s good for you if he’s got you looking all goofy and happy. You must really love him.”

Chanyeol nods his head bashfully. “I do,” he whispers.

“Then we can talk to him for much longer soon?” Kyungsoo asks as he takes the broom from Chanyeol. “To get a better feel.”

“Just tell me when. He isn’t producing for any groups right now, so if he isn’t too into make a song, he usually picks up,” Chanyeol says after some thought.

“Good,” Kyungsoo yawns. “I trust Jihyun’s judgement so he probably really does suit you. Now let’s hurry and finish cleaning so we can grab dinner.”

Chanyeol goes to wash his hands in the back before starting on the dishes in the back.

Now that Jihyun and Kyungsoo have met Yixing and seem to have a pretty good opinion from a super short conversation, it gives Chanyeol all the reason more to think Yixing is really meant to be his mate. There’s relief in knowing all his friends like Yixing because as much as he hates to admit it, he actually wants all his friends and mate to get long. He doesn’t think he could handle them just tolerating Yixing for his sake like Baekhyun and Seulgi do only to please Sehun and Junmyeon. He needs them to love Yixing like he loves all of them. And all the signs say that they will once they meet Yixing in person. He doesn’t think any of them are the type to just indulge Chanyeol when he wants them to talk to Yixing for a few minutes when they’re over.

So Chanyeol continues to wash dishes, humming along to “Mask,” a song Yixing wrote for a group he continues to be a producer for, happy his future mate and friends will definitely get along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sound of his door unlocking nearly startles Chanyeol, almost making him fall off the couch. He’s too engrossed in a scary film and it being so close to midnight doesn’t help. At least he had enough sense to leave the lights on. Chanyeol’s heart rate begins to go back to normal when he sees that it’s Baekhyun walking through his door.

“Again?” Chanyeol asks as he pats the space to his left. Baekhyun nods as he comes to sit next to Chanyeol and lean against him. Chanyeol’s gotten so used to Sehun kicking Baekhyun out for the nth time that the alpha even has pillows and a blanket ready on the couch. Baekhyun grabs his blanket and drapes it over his shoulders. Chanyeol wonders if frequent mood swings are common for every pregnant omega or if it’s just a Sehun thing. “So, what was it this time?” Chanyeol asks when Baekhyun is completely comfy.

Baekhyun scoops a handful of the salted caramel popcorn from the bowl that sits in Chanyeol’s lap. He pops a few pieces of popcorn into his mouth. “Oh, I brought him the wrong kind of juice,” Baekhyun explains between his snacking. “Said he wanted mango when I left, came back and he wanted orange. Said I didn’t understand him anymore.”

“That’s rough, I guess,” Chanyeol says, spacing out each word as he speaks. He really doesn’t know what else to say.

“Eh, it’s okay,” Baekhyun shrugs off. “I love him and it’s really not his fault his emotions are a wreck. I’m just happy that I’m going to be a dad.”

Chanyeol bobs his head as if he understands. “I just hope I don’t get that way when I’m pregnant. Seems stressful.” Chanyeol stuffs his mouth with popcorn. “Not that I want to have kids now,” he quickly adds. He and Yixing haven’t really touched on the subject of children more thoroughly yet.

“And who exactly is going to knock you up?” Baekhyun asks. “It’s not like you have anyone here.”

“Uh, Yixing, my boyfriend and future mate,” Chanyeol points out, offended that Baekhyun would dismiss Yixing. “You know, the cute, dimpled alpha that you spoke to last week.”

“But he isn’t here.” Baekhyun then grabs the forgotten cup full of white grape juice from the coffee table and takes a sip. He holds the cup in his hands. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about Yixing anyway.”

“Why?” Chanyeol huffs, brow raising with curiosity and dread of what exactly Baekhyun would want to say about Yixing. “We’re doing great.”

“For now. It’s been what—almost a year of this—and you two live in separate countries pretending like everything is fine. You can’t keep this up.”

“We’re happy,” Chanyeol mumbles.

“And what if you become mates? Have you even thought that far? How will you manage then?”

“We could make it work. We have so far.”

“And what if you couldn’t after mating?” Baekhyun questions and Chanyeol hates the sudden attack on his love life, on Yixing, that his friends were all so desperate for him to have. “Dating is one thing, but being mates is all new territory. You both would be miserable without each other.”

“If he’s my mate then it’s meant to be. We’ll figure it out.”

“Look,” Baekhyun sighs. “I know this nice alpha named Lee Joon Gi I met back in the theater department in uni. He’s seen your pic and is interested in meeting you.”

“I only want Yixing.”

“You might never even get the chance to meet Yixing,” Baekhyun says as he stands and Chanyeol wants to cry. He knows he and Yixing haven’t talked about meeting each other yet, but that doesn’t give Baekhyun the right to say he and Yixing would never meet. “I’ll let you think on it.” He ruffles Chanyeol’s hair. “Sehun shouldn’t be mad now, so I’m going to head out.”

Chanyeol can feel his eyes water and just— _fuck Baekhyun._ He texts Sehun.

 

 **Chanyeol [12:09AM]**  
_i don’t like your mate anymore :(_

 

 **Sehun [12:14AM]**  
_i’m coming over_

 

Minutes later, there’s the sound of his door unlocking for the second time. This time it’s Sehun, only Sehun thank the gods, walking through his door. He takes off his slippers and joins Chanyeol on the couch.

“You were crying?” Sehun asks and lies down, brining Chanyeol with him so they can cuddle on the couch. “What’d he do?”

Chanyeol’s sure Baekhyun’s already told his side of what happened and guesses Sehun wants to hear what went on from him too. Chanyeol doesn’t say much at first, instead he rubs his hand over Sehun’s belly. It isn’t that big yet, but there’s a small bump and Chanyeol can’t help but be amazed and have thoughts about being pregnant himself. When Chanyeol stops, Sehun moves his hand back and makes him continue rubbing his stomach.

Eventually, Chanyeol says quietly, “He said Yixing and I aren’t going to work. I thought he was happy for me.”

“He is,” Sehun says after a minute or two passes. “We both are, but we never thought it would last. Not a lot of long distance relationships do.”

“We’ve made us work.”

“You have. Yixing has been really good for you.”

And Chanyeol can hear uncertainty in Sehun’s voice. He knows he’ll regret asking this, but he does anyway. “And you don’t think he still is?” a bit of timidness in his voice.

“Well no?” he says and looks down at Chanyeol the same time Chanyeol glances up. “I mean, it’s great that you started dating and all, but all this flirting with an alpha across seas should be out of your system by now.” _Flirting?_ Sehun thinks what he and Yixing have is nothing but flirting? Chanyeol feels sick. “It’d be best to find a wolf you can actually meet in person on a daily basis, not through phone calls.”

Chanyeol doesn’t know why he expected any different from Sehun. Mates are usually in sync, especially Baekhyun and Sehun. Chanyeol doesn’t speak any further, too upset to even think about arguing, with a pregnant omega at that.

“Want pizza?” Sehun asks after minutes go by. He’s already pulling out his phone.

“I’m not hungry right now,” Chanyeol grumbles. For it being so late he kind of is, but Sehun is the last person he wants to be around right now.

And maybe his friend can sense that because he’s gently pushing Chanyeol off of him so he can get up. “Okay. I’ll get back to Baekhyun then,” he says as he stretches his limbs and cracks his knuckles. “Just don’t worry about it too much. I’m sure you’ll find a good way to call things off with Yixing.”

Chanyeol frowns, but doesn’t say anything back. He waits until Sehun leaves to let the tears fall. He doesn’t know how he missed his friends, his _best friends_ being against his and Yixing’s relationship. He thought they were supportive and wanted the best for him. There’s no other wolf that could compare to Yixing. And it just hurts and it sucks to think that they don’t want him with Yixing. They were the ones who made him use that stupid app in the first place! They should be happy he found someone like he wanted.

Chanyeol pulls Baekhyun’s blanket over him and settles into the couch, not feeling like dragging himself to bed. Then his phone starts to buzz and he sees that it’s Yixing. His Yixing who could make him feel better about this entire thing, but he ignores it. He ignores the next three times Yixing calls, worrying that if he told, Yixing might agree with his friends. Yixing says he loves him, but it might not be enough to keep them together. It’s a scary thought to lose the one wolf he cares about most, that he’s connected with and wants to share the rest of his life with. He can’t lose Yixing. Not now.

He’ll just sleep it off and everything will be fine in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 **Chanyeol [12:04PM]**  
_sorry busy!! :(_  
_call later?_

 

It’s lunch time and Chanyeol wonders if Yixing knows it’s a lie that he’s busy. No matter how busy Oasis gets, Jihyun and Kyungsoo always make sure to give him his break on time. And it’s silly to have let Sehun’s and Baekhyun’s words bother him to the point where it makes Chanyeol ignore talking to him through calls or video while he’s on a work break and at home when he’s lazing around doing nothing. The only reason he texts is so Yixing won’t worry. It’s only been a few days since then, but Chanyeol can’t let go of the fact that his friends don’t think their relationship will work and Yixing could agree.

Chanyeol groans and tries to get back to his lunch. He’s nearly startled out of his seat when Jihyun suddenly appears right beside him.

“Are you okay, sweetie?” Jihyun asks as she comes to stand by Chanyeol and starts combing her fingers through his hair. “You look stressed and sad every time you look at your phone.”

“I’m okay,” he lies, looking out the window at all the different couples that pass. The young woman giving her mate a kiss underneath the snowy sky is a beautiful, heartwarming sight; it makes him miss Yixing all the more. “Just—I don’t know, but I’m okay.”

“You’re not going to be allowed to bake if you don’t tell me or Kyungsoo what’s going on,” she threatens, charmingly so at that. “I can’t have you about to break down when we have a business to run.” Chanyeol stops staring outside to peer over at his boss. “What’s wrong? Did something happen to you and Yixing?”

“No,” he shakes his head. “But do you really like him? Do you think he’s good for me?” he asks. He needs all the reassurance he can get right now.

“I do,” she grins. “He’s really funny and likeable. I don’t think I’ve seen you look happier than when you’re with him. As your friend, it makes me happy to see you happy.”

“Then do you think the long distance thing is stupid?”

“Not at all. Every couple is different. If it works for you, then go for it.” Chanyeol’s mood gets better by one percent. “I’ll get back to work, but if you want to talk you know I’m always here for you.”

“Thanks,” he says before Jihyun walks off.

A few minutes later, it’s Kyungsoo who comes over, sitting right across from Chanyeol.

“So, what’s up?” Kyungsoo asks right away. “Don’t bullshit me either. Do we have to take a trip to Beijing to kick a certain alpha’s ass?”

Chanyeol would be taken aback by Kyungsoo’s bluntness, but this is the beta that told a customer to fuck off a week ago when he would leave Chanyeol alone. “No. Yixing is—Yixing is great. It’s just—I don’t know.”

Kyungsoo eyes him skeptically. “Then what’s wrong? We’re all allowed to be sad, but this goes beyond that. You look miserable every second of the day, even when you put that forced smile on for customers. What happened?”

Too much happened, Chanyeol wants to say but doesn’t. But more than that, Chanyeol hates how his new friends seems to be a hell of a lot more supportive than the ones he’s known for far much longer. “It’s me. It’s because of me,” he finally manages to get out.

“You? _Park Chanyeol did something?_ You didn’t—you didn’t cheat on Yixing did you?” he leans over to whisper as his eyes go wide with fear.

“Gods no!” Chanyeol rushes out loudly. “I’d break up with him before that could ever happen. I’m just being stupid.”

Relief washes over Kyungsoo’s face. “Then what could you have possibly done to make yourself this upset?”

Well, he might as well be honest. He lets out a large breath before saying, “I let my friends’ thoughts about my relationship with Yixing get to me.” An eyebrow of Kyungsoo’s raises and Chanyeol goes on to explain, “Sehun and Baekhyun said they didn’t think my relationship with Yixing was a good idea. They called it _flirting_ of all things. Nearly an entire year of “flirting” with Yixing and Baekhyun even tried to hook me up with another one of his friends.” Chanyeol sighs. “Then I called Junmyeon and Seulgi to just reassure me, you know? I thought they’d at least have my back, but I just got yelled at because they’re going through problems so I don’t even know. So I’ve just been thinking what if Yixing thinks the same as them? What if he thinks I’m not worth it anymore and is just using me to have fun before he finds a local omega to settle down with.”

“You’re an idiot, you know that don’t you?”

“I—I accept that,” Chanyeol agrees even though he doesn’t want to admit that he’s going about this the wrong way. “So all that’s made me do is ignore his calls. We still text, but I keep saying I’m busy whenever he wants to call me. I’m too sad to even hear his voice and it’s driving me crazy to not be able to hear it so I keep replaying—” Chanyeol cuts himself off before he accidentally reveals part of his sex life with Yixing. “It hurts not to be able to hear him.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “You know you have to talk to him right?”

“I know, but what if—”

“Nope. You talk to him. He loves you; I can tell that much from when I talk to him. He loves you a lot so don’t be stupid and push him away.”

“Kyungsoo,” he whines. “I’m scared.”

“That’s okay,” he says and stands. Kyungsoo then shuffles over to Chanyeol and places a hand on his shoulder. “But you’ll have Yixing to brush that fear right off and be confident in your relationship.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, _‘oh,’_ you goofball. Just talk to him. And if it comes down to the worst possible scenario, we kick his ass.” Chanyeol thinks he’s joking and laughs. “Call him soon,” Kyungsoo leaves him with and walks away.

Chanyeol waits until Kyungsoo’s no longer in sight to pick up his phone. Kyungsoo is right. Yixing would be able to put his mind at ease about this whole situation. But still, he can’t help but worry.

There’s only one option he can think of—to video call Jongin—and he does. Thank the gods he picks up.

 _“Hey buddy,”_ Jongin answers with. _“What’s up?”_

“Oh um, nothing much,” Chanyeol says and eats a little of his sandwich before continuing, “Just taking a break at work. I’m going to bake an apple pie when I head back.”

 _“Cool. But you decided to call me instead of Yixing?”_ he asks. _“Xing-Xing told me you two have only spoken through texts the last few days.”_

 _Oh._ Of course Yixing would let his friends know something like that. “Well you see about that,” Chanyeol begins with, “I was talking to Baekhyun and Sehun. They’re mates and my friends and so they said some things that were basically the same thing and now I’m confused.”

_“What kind of things did they say?”_

There’s a brief pause and Chanyeol exhales deeply before he hurriedly states, “Um, to sum it up, that my relationship with Yixing won’t work, and that I should, um, meet a wolf that’s erm, more local.”

 _“Wow,”_ Jongin drags out, looking absolutely stunned. _“Granted, I might have felt that way before about you two,”_ he admits, _“But you two are so cute together! And you’re his favorite omega now,”_ he pouts. His face gets serious when he asks, _“But what do you think?”_

“That I love Yixing and want to be with him. I want him to claim me so I can officially be his mate. He’s mine.”

Things get quiet and Jongin sits back in what looks like a bed to lean against the wall. Then thoughtfully, carefully he says, _“Well, you could stay quiet about this and let it eat at you and continue to ignore Yixing which will only make Yixing sad and worry over you.”_ Jongin then lets out a small _‘oof’_ when one of his dogs come to lie in his lap. He then continues, _“Or you can tell Yixing what you just told me and talk it out. Baekhyun isn’t in a relationship with Yixing; you are.”_

“But what if Yixing actually agrees and dumps me?”

Jongin laughs, a little too long for Chanyeol’s tastes. When he calms down, Jongin goes on to say, “ _Uh, this is Yixing we’re talking about Chanyeol. If you could see him in person then you’d know he only wants you. He’s surrounded by omegas—me being the most amazing—every single day so he’s had plenty of opportunity to leave.”_

“But _what if,_ Jongin? What if he—”

 _“Nope. Whatever it is you’re thinking stop it,”_ Jongin interrupts him with. _“Yixing is an amazing guy. You never had any reason to doubt him before so don’t start now.”_ Jongin tries to put on a stern expression, but it only makes him look adorable now that he isn’t worried. Chanyeol holds in his laughter to hear Jongin’s next words. _“I’ll give you exactly one week to talk to Yixing. If you don’t say anything I’ll tell him your friends have been putting silly ideas in your head. And it’ll make him sad. Got it?”_ Chanyeol doesn’t feel like laughing anymore and simply nods his head. _“Good! I have to go now. Choreo to teach, dogs to walk and all. We’ll talk later. Bye-bye Chanyeol.”_

“See you later Jongin.”

Chanyeol tosses his phone onto the table with a groan and hurries to finish lunch, wondering how he’ll ever get the courage to bring their relationship, their future up in front of Yixing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It takes Chanyeol six whole days to actually build up the nerve to talk to Yixing. He had continued with the excuse of being busy with learning a new cake recipe he keeps screwing up, which isn’t a complete lie. He had messed up the black forest cake recipe more times than he could count but by day four, Chanyeol had finally gotten it down and even earned Kyungsoo’s praise. But when he received a text from Jongin reminding him of his little warning, Chanyeol knew he’d rather come clean himself than have Jongin speak for him.

A quick message is sent to Yixing, asking can they video call since Chanyeol is free at home. Yixing sends a quick, _give me thirty minutes,_ and Chanyeol waits in front of his laptop. He wastes time away by looking up different ways to cut different vegetables until a familiar jingle is sounding throughout the room. _Yixing._

 _“Hey,”_ Yixing drags out with a smile as soon as he answers and Chanyeol wants to cry because of how good it feels to finally hear Yixing’s voice again, even if one little word. Even his wolf is jumping around in joy. But a worried expression quickly washes over his face. _“Chanyeol, baby, is there something wrong?”_

For a second, Chanyeol thinks of lying, but Yixing is clearly able to see that he’s upset, even through a computer screen. He really would have loved a few minutes to catch up beyond what they send through texts, but Chanyeol knows this can’t and he shouldn’t wait.

With a sigh, Chanyeol says, “I was talking to Baekhyun and Sehun earlier this week and they’re worried about me.”

 _“Really? Why?”_ Yixing asks, nervousness in his tone.

Chanyeol purses his lips and then explains, “They don’t think what we’re doing is realistic.” Chanyeol crosses his arms. “Said it’s best if I found someone more, um, local.”

 _“They wants us to break up?”_ Yixing questions and Chanyeol can’t read his face. A moment of silence passes before he continues speaking and asks, _“What do you think about us, Chanyeol?”_

“Can I be honest?” Yixing nods stiffly. Chanyeol scoots closer to the computer screen. “And you have to promise to not freak out even if any of what I say bothers you,” he adds, pointing his index finger at Yixing. “Oh! And pretend we’re holding hands.”

 _“Um, okay. I already don’t know if I should be scared or not,”_ Yixing gets out anxiously, light chuckle to his words. _“If you want to break up, just say so and I can go off to cry in peace right now.”_

Chanyeol shakes his head. “Just shush and listen.” Yixing rolls his eyes and Chanyeol hopes he isn’t going to sound too much like a lovesick fool. “I think Baekhyun is wrong. Sure it’s long distance but it works for us,” he begins and Yixing’s eyes are wide, filled with relief. “I didn’t use Forelskape thinking I’d find anyone; I thought the best I’d do was friends. But then I found you.” He takes one large breath and Yixing’s grin gives him the confidence to continue, “And I’m glad I did because you make me happy, Yixing. You’re so funny and caring and I love how deep your dimples are. And I love how you just let me ramble on about my day or my silly hobbies. I love when you answer my calls even when you’re tired just so I can sing you to sleep. I love everything about you.” Yixing’s eyes soften, a deep purple washing over them, not hint of going back to their natural brown, and Chanyeol blushes over how intense yet fond Yixing’s gaze is. Chanyeol can’t look away and wonders what it’d be like to have Yixing look at him that way in person. Before he gets too lost in his own thoughts, Chanyeol continues, “We’ve only know each other for a little over a year, but time doesn’t matter when it comes to love and being mates. And even though we aren’t mates yet, I know that I want you with me for life. I love you and only you, Yixing. So when we do finally meet, I want you to claim me. I want to be yours, truly.”

 _“Wow,”_ is all Yixing says in return and he turns in his chair, Chanyeol only being able to see the back of it now.

“Yixing?” Chanyeol says in efforts to get his boyfriend to turn around. His stomach drops and he tries to tell himself over and over that Yixing just needs time to process this, but as the minutes pass the anxiety builds and Chanyeol starts to feel sick. _“Yixing,”_ he whines, “can you say something? I’m getting scared.”

With that, Yixing immediately turns around. _“Chanyeol baby, I’m sorry. You have_ nothing _to worry about,”_ Yixing rushes out, stumbling over his words. _“It’s just, you just said all those things and you want me to claim you and_ fuck _—it’s taking everything in me to not impulsively buy a plane ticket to get to you and claim you._ Gods Chanyeol, _you know I love you too and I’d love to claim you. You’re mine. My mate.”_

“You do? You really want to claim me? _Me?_ Park Chanyeol?” Chanyeol spews in disbelief. He knows he just asked, but to hear Yixing actually say it is just—wow. _Yixing really wants to claim me?_ He feels his cheeks heat up and heart flutter.

 _“Yes,”_ Yixing chuckles, but it’s still a firm answer. _“I love you, only you, Park Chanyeol. Everything about you. Your smile, your laugh, how you can make me feel better even on the worst days. We haven’t properly met, but I know you’re my mate. You’re mine and claiming would cement what we already know.”_

Chanyeol’s sure he’s completely red now and covers his face with his hands. “Even with the distance you want to be my mate?” Chanyeol asks, words mumbled through his palms. He peeks at Yixing through his fingers.

_“Yes. Now look at me properly, Chanyeol baby.”_

Chanyeol uncovers his face. “Two different countries is hard to work with,” he pouts. “What do we do?”

Yixing smiles, _“We talk about us, our future together.”_ And Chanyeol wants to melt over such simple words. _“You’re still figuring out if baking is really what you want to do in life, so I think it’s best if you stay put in Seoul for now. I’m based in Beijing, but I can be a producer and write songs pretty much anywhere.”_

“What does that mean?” Chanyeol asks for clarification, not wanting to get his hopes up.

_“It means I think I should come to Seoul for a few months for us to really get to know each other in person.”_

“You mean for sex? Are we just going to fuck a lot while you’re here to make up for lost time?” Chanyeol tilts his head as Yixing outright laughs and it takes a long few seconds for him to calm down. “Hey,” he whines.

 _“You’re really cute,”_ Yixing giggles. _“That would be nice, but it’s not necessarily needed and I think both our bodies would need a break from something like that. Our main focus should be on us just being together and around each other as mates.”_

“Ah, I see,” Chanyeol says as he nods his head. “But you would really do that? Come to Seoul, I mean.”

_“Yes. I love you Chanyeol, remember.”_

“Really? Okay. Oh my gods. Okay. Okay um, when?” Chanyeol eagerly gets out in a rush.

Yixing smiles as he props his elbow onto his desk to rest his face on his palm. _“Let’s plan around two months from now?”_ he suggests. _“A project I have should be ending soon and I think the company has a Seoul location so I can tell them I’ll work from there.”_

“Sounds perfect,” Chanyeol say even though he would have agreed to anything. “I’ll really get to see you that soon?”

_“Yes, Chanyeol baby. You will.”_

“Good,” Chanyeol grins. “Now, tell me everything you told me through text over the last week. But in detail.”

Yixing chuckles. _“You know, I really wouldn’t have to do that if you hadn’t ignored my calls.”_

“What? Yo—you actually noticed?” Chanyeol stutters through his question. And here he thought he was subtle.

_“If it had been a day or two, I would have thought nothing of it, but when my mate does it for nearly an entire week, it would’ve been weird not to notice.”_

“Ah, I guess so,” Chanyeol says, slightly embarrassed. “You aren’t mad, are you?”

 _“Not at all,”_ Yixing yawns. _“I’d rather you take your time to sort your feelings out, so you know hundred percent that you want me. So really, I’m not angry. Just relieved and happy. And Chanyeol?”_

“Yes?”

_“I love you.”_

“Love you too,” Chanyeol beams, teeth proudly showing. “Let’s catch up?”

They spend the next few hours updating each other on their lives until both start yawning entirely too much. That night, Chanyeol sleeps peacefully, wolf in him all too happy that Yixing loves him, that Yixing wants to be his mate. Now all he has to do is wait a few months for it to be reality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seeing Yixing in two to three months is now a lost cause because apparently Yixing’s company thought it was a good idea to have him take part in making music for an upcoming drama series. So in addition to producing for an upcoming soloist, he now has this on his plate. Timing couldn’t be any worse.

But Chanyeol tries to look at this minor setback as a positive because it’s given him time to think, think on a lot of things—places he has to take Yixing, Yixing meeting his parents and sister, Yixing’s touch, Yixing’s scent, how Yixing’s lips will feel against his for the first time, and sex.

Chanyeol mainly thinks about sex.

But not just all the emotions that will come with it, the consequences of it as well. Chanyeol knows if he is claimed in both human and wolf form that his heat will start mere hours later. And if that happens, he knows there’s a good chance he’d become pregnant considering he isn’t on any type of suppressants or birth control. He can’t let that happen. Sure he and Yixing have known each other long enough, but they’ve yet to have the chance to really be around each other in person. Pups are forever once they arrive and as much as Chanyeol loves the idea of being pregnant with Yixing’s children, he needs plenty of time with Yixing all to himself before that happens.

So now Chanyeol sits in front of his laptop looking through different brands of IUDs for male omegas. There are five different types on the market, each ranging with length of use and possible side effects. He should really consult his doctor first, but at least he knows which ones he wants to rule out.

“What are you doing?” Seulgi asks and seats herself next to Chanyeol on the floor.

“Looking up different brands of IUDs,” Chanyeol answers and clicks on a link leading to info on XO, the fifth type of IUD. It’s non-hormonal and upon reading, might be the best option.

“Oh? Finally going to spend a heat with an alpha? Beta? Or maybe even an omega?” she asks.

“I have Yixing so no.”

“He could be understanding. Junmyeon’s—” she stops speaking for a second, clearly affected by even mentioning Junmyeon’s name. She takes a sip of Chanyeol’s water and seems to gain back her composure. “His heats are unbearable without my knot, so you could be the same.” He notices her twiddling her thumbs. He wonders if that means Junmyeon is using someone else right now for his heats. “What’s it for then?”

“Well, you know I’m going to meet Yixing,” he begins explaining. “I don’t think we should risk being parents so soon after our first heat together. And I don’t want to have to take suppressants or use condoms. It just makes sense. Plus I should do it now so any side effects can wear off by the time he gets here.”

“Ah, you’re so cute, Yeol,” she says leaning into his side. Chanyeol wraps his arm around her. “It’ll be your very first heat with someone right?”

“Yeah. But it can’t be too much different from normal sex, right?”

“I think Sehun would be able to tell you that a lot better than me.” The room gets quiet until Seulgi speaks again. “And sorry about before. It’s been a while since we sat down and talked like this since I yelled at you. I let my emotions get the best of me and I’m still trying to not let them,” she says, voice weak. “I didn’t know Sehun and his mate said those things to you about Yixing. I know they love you and want to look out for you, but it wasn’t right.”

“You think so?” he asks.

Seulgi hums and takes Chanyeol’s hand into her own. “I’ll admit that I was skeptical of your relationship at first, but it’s yours. If it’s going to end, it should be on yours and Yixing’s terms and no other wolf should try and stop that.”

“Thanks. I probably would have liked to hear that.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he waves off and hugs Seulgi even tighter. “I’m fine. Yixing’s fine. You and me, we’re fine.”

“You and Myeon?”

“We’re good too. But hey, if it’s worth anything, I think Junmyeon just needs space to realize you two are perfect for each other,” he says. “I don’t think he meant the un-bonding thing, but give him some time? It’d be painful if you really went through with it.”

“Yeah,” she sighs, clearly defeated and having lost all hope. “But let’s not talk about that. Let’s find you a good IUD. I don’t know how they feel, but I work with omegas. My Yeol is growing up and getting claimed.”

Chanyeol playfully pushes Seulgi away only to bring her back into his embrace and continues reading, talking over each IUD with her. After a little more reading, Chanyeol decides he’ll talk with his doctor about getting the XO IUD inserted.

It takes three weeks for Chanyeol to be able to go to the doctor with Seulgi and get the small procedure done. After reading about the side effects, Chanyeol was pretty worried, but when he leaves the doctor’s office, he feels fine—well, maybe a little off considering he stays in wolf form longer than usual. But he does go in for a half-day at Oasis. He laughs with Jihyun and Kyungsoo and even goes to dinner with Sehun, Junmyeon, Sooyoung, and Seolhyun.

The next day, however, he feels like absolute shit.

And the next.

And the one after that.

A week in and he wants to quit and have the IUD removed and not have to deal with the headaches and cramps and on and off back pain. Kyungsoo had even given him time off thanks to the side effects. In hindsight, condoms and suppressants aren’t a bad idea at all despite not really wanting to use them. Chanyeol doesn’t think he can take another month of this like the doctor said the side effects would last.

He groans when he hears a familiar jingle from his laptop. Thank gods he was already watching a movie earlier or else he wouldn’t have the motivation to get up and get it. He turns around to lie on his other side, wincing as he does so. Hopefully Yixing’s voice will be able to sooth him for a while like it’s been doing.

“I feel like shit,” Chanyeol grumbles as soon as Yixing answers. He sees Jongin in the background waving so Chanyeol pitifully raises his hand and gives some kind of wave back.

 _“Baby? What’s wrong? What happened?”_ Yixing asks. _“What happened?”_

Now, he could lie and play it off like he’s completely fine like he has all week, but Chanyeol can’t be assed to do even that. “I got an IUD,” he answers honestly.

_“An IUD? Why?”_

“So we wouldn’t have to use condoms or suppressants and stuff during my heat,” he explains. “I want us to be parents, just not now.” Chanyeol sits up so he can look at Yixing better. “I need you all to myself first.”

 _“You’re cute.”_ Yixing grins. _“But tell me exactly what’s wrong.”_

“I have a headache right now which I think may have been caused by the pain from the cramps,” he says and reaches for the tea Seulgi made him earlier to help with the cramps. It didn’t work, but it tastes good, so Chanyeol continues to drink it. “And then there’s on and off back pain.”

 _“How long has this been going on?”_ Yixing questions.

“All week.”

 _“Park Chanyeol,”_ he begins to scold, _“Don’t—don’t keep things from me.”_

“I’m sorry; I just didn’t—” Chanyeol stops speaking and holds his lower stomach due to his cramps getting worse at a time like this. He lets out a whine. “I didn’t want you to worry,” he finishes through gritted teeth.

 _“Do you at least have a heating pad? I’m reading those are good,”_ Yixing asks. Chanyeol shakes his head. _“Give me your address and I’ll get one sent to you.”_

“Yixing, it’s okay. I’ll just go and take a hot bath.”

 _“You’re mine so I’m going to take care of you,”_ Yixing states. _“So let me.”_

Chanyeol doesn’t have a clue of what to say next other than to text Yixing his address right away. If this were any other day and Chanyeol weren’t in pain, he’d say or do a lot more than grin weakly. Luckily he doesn’t have to do a single thing more as Jongin comes into view right next to Yixing.

 _“I’m going to send you a gift too!”_ Jongin says after rolling Yixing away from the screne. _“I get bad cramps during the beginning of my heat and I drink this one tea Yixing’s mom likes to send us sometimes. I’ll make sure he sends that too!”_

“Thanks Jongin,” Chanyeol says.

_“Are you busy right now? Want to stream a movie with me and Yixing?”_

“I don’t have work because of the pain,” he informs. “All of next week too so I literally have nothing to do.”

 _“Cool!”_ Jongin then says something in Chinese to Yixing as Yixing rolls back over to his computer. _“Was that right?”_ he asks in Korean and switches back to Chinese. _“He says I’m getting better. We’ll be practicing buddies when you come live here. I’ll be back.”_

As soon as Jongin leaves, Chanyeol asks, “What does he mean when I come to live there? Are you two talking about our future without me?” he pouts.

 _“Of course not. He probably just thinks since we’ll be mates, that you’d just naturally move here,”_ Yixing explains and then rambles, _“But I don’t know of our exact living arrangements other than when I come to visit. We’ll work it out somehow. Regardless of what we decide, we’ll be together so I don’t think either country matters. It’s a lot to think about, but we should talk about this in person though.”_

“That’s still too far away,” Chanyeol says, then clarifies when he sees Yixing tilt his head in confusion, “Meeting you in person.”

 _“Four months,”_ Yixing sighs.

And Chanyeol repeats, “Four short months. It’ll go by fast.” He gives a half-smile. “And then I’m all yours.”

em>“All mine.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

True to his word, Yixing does send him a care package with a heating pad, three different kinds of tea that Chanyeol’s never heard of, and an assortment of snacks Chanyeol’s also never heard of. Jongin also sends along a gift—dogs treats for his wolf—that he finds hilarious enough to laugh for three straight minutes as soon as Chanyeol opens the “gift.” Despite Jongin’s laughter, Chanyeol doesn’t know whether he’s meant to use them seriously or not, so he gives them to Sehun to feed to the latest addition of his family, a cute bichon frise named Vivi. Jongin also makes sure to note that he helped Yixing with picking out the snacks. And they do help, especially the heating pad and tea.

But even after the side effects wear off and Chanyeol feels like he’s back to normal, Yixing continues to send him packages filled with snacks and a few books that will help him with learning Chinese. And in return, Chanyeol sends Yixing cute notebooks for him to jot down music ideas in and Korean snacks.

It’s not the same as giving gifts in person, but it helps fill the void of Yixing not being here and counting down the days a bit more fun when he knows a package is supposed to arrive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chanyeol can’t stop bouncing his leg as he and Junmyeon head to the airport. Yixing’s flight doesn’t get in until 11AM and they—specifically and only Chanyeol—wanted to make sure they were on time. So at seven in the morning, Chanyeol made Junmyeon take him to the airport a tad early. But Chanyeol can’t help it, wanting to see his Yixing, _his mate,_ after far too long of knowing each other and over a year of dating. He _finally_ gets to meet Yixing in person and touch and hold and kiss him and just—he gets to see Yixing for the first time! _Ever!_

It makes Chanyeol nervous and excited all and once. So of course he wants to be right on time.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Junmyeon mumbles yet still loud enough for Chanyeol to hear. “Why are we leaving so early? By the time we get there, we’ll still have three hours to wait.”

“Because,” Chanyeol drags out with a whine, “my mate is on his way and what if he gets mad at me for being late? As his omega I have to keep my promise of being on time.” Chanyeol glances over to see Junmyeon roll his eyes.

“You two have been doing this long distance thing for entirely too long so I’m sure if we were late, he wouldn’t mind standing around for a minute or two.”

“But Junmyeon this is the first time ever we’ll meet in person!” Chanyeol shouts a little too loudly as his hands slam on the dashboard. Junmyeon glares and Chanyeol returns it with a bashful smile. “Sorry. I’m just happy.”

“I know, but please don’t ruin my car. It’s new and I’ve been wanting an SUV for a while now.” Junmyeon then turns the radio down. “I’m really happy for you. Not a lot of wolves would stick around for a long distance relationship as long as you two have, but you and Yixing seem to make it work. I think that’s a sign of being true mates.”

“You think so?” Chanyeol asks.

“Yeah,” Junmyeon hums. “There’s always this talk of fate when it comes to mates and with the star and moon gods, all that jazz, and I don’t know, but you seem to fit that stereotype of destined lovers. It’s cute.”

Chanyeol wouldn’t know about fate, but he definitely agrees that Yixing is meant to be his just as much as he is Yixing’s.

The rest of the car ride is filled with Chanyeol and Junmyeon singing along to Taemin songs—Chanyeol thinks their cover of Rise could be radio worthy—and share small updates on life neither know of yet. The ride calms his nerves, or the human ones at least. Chanyeol can feel his wolf jumping with excitement, anticipation, but also dread. The human sides of them get along fairly well, but there’s no telling how their wolves will react to one another. Yixing’s wolf could hate him and that would be the end of them.

By the time they get to the airport, Chanyeol’s emotions are a mess all over again. Human Chanyeol and Human Yixing get along just fine; their wolf counterparts should be the same, Chanyeol repeats over and over to himself.

“Let’s get something to eat,” Junmyeon suggests when they’ve made their way inside. “I missed breakfast because of you.”

“I’m not hungry,” Chanyeol says. “I’m going to wait around where he should be coming out at.” Chanyeol then tries to walk away, but Junmyeon is fast to grab his wrist.

“I know for a fact you haven’t eaten because Seulgi cooks for you and she would never be up this early on a Saturday.”

“So I take it you two are talking again?” Chanyeol asks to change the subject.

“Weren’t not talking about my love life,” Junmyeon says, not falling for the obvious bait. “If you don’t eat, I’ll—I’ll tell Yixing you skipped breakfast when he gets here.”

Chanyeol frowns. He can’t have Yixing thinking the worst of him on today of all days. “You’re right. We should eat. Want pancakes?”

“Sure. Let’s go,” Junmyeon says and leads Chanyeol to a restaurant that serves American food.

They are seated instantly, the morning rush just starting for incoming travelers and those having to pick up loved ones or someone for business purposes. Junmyeon gets French toast while Chanyeol orders a western omelet, both served with orange juice. It takes a while for their food to arrive and they spend their time talking of how the school’s been since Chanyeol left and a little about their friends minus Seulgi. By the time they’re done, there’s just an hour and a half until Yixing’s flight arrives.

It feels like the longest hour and a half of Chanyeol’s life. Junmyeon tries to keep Chanyeol calm by taking him to a cafe and forcing him to play mobile games that do little to occupy his mind on thoughts that aren’t about Yixing. But soon, it’s 11:07AM and the board shows that Yixing’s flight has just arrived.

Chanyeol stares at the flight board for the longest of minutes. His tongue feels tied. His words feel caught in his throat. His body won’t let him get up and move. It’s all so simple to do and yet he can’t.

Junmyeon stands and takes his hand and tries to pull him up multiple times, but he won’t budge. “Chanyeol?” Junmyeon questions. “Chanyeol we should go and wait for him.”

“I—I—it’s happening?” Chanyeol asks, almost in disbelief. “He’s here? _Really here?_ ”

“Yes Chanyeol,” Junmyeon smiles, fondly. “C’mon and be a good omega and go wait for him.”

“Oh, yeah,” Chanyeol says quietly and lets Junmyeon pull him up from his seat. Junmyeon doesn’t let go of his hand and guides them all the way to the gate where Yixing should walk right out of. “Junmyeon, I feel sick.” His grip tightens on Junmyeon’s hand.

“Please don’t throw up,” Junmyeon says quickly. “I know it’s nerve wracking, but take deep breaths. It’s going to be okay.”

“But what if we—our wolves should—”

“Stop it,” he cuts him off with. “Everything is going to be fine. You’ll see Yixing and you’ll be claimed and everything will be fine. Now, look at me.” Chanyeol does as told. “Deep breaths remember?” Chanyeol nods. “Breathe in.” Chanyeol takes a large inhale of air. “Now breathe out.” Chanyeol lets out a deep exhale. “Now repeat.” Chanyeol does a few more deep breaths and he thinks it helps.

“Thank you,” he smiles.

“No problem. Now, let’s be on the lookout for—Oh, I think that’s him,” Junmyeon says.

Chanyeol swallows hard and follows Junmyeon’s vision all the way to—

_Yixing._

_It’s really Yixing._

Chanyeol’s feet find themselves moving automatically towards Yixing, towards his mate. His head spins with each step, the only thought being getting to Yixing as fast as possible. It doesn’t take long for Yixing to spot him either as he moves towards Chanyeol as well. Once they’re close enough, Chanyeol is jumping into Yixing’s arms and wrapping his legs around his alpha’s waist.

_Home._

As soon as their eyes connect—violet meeting amber—Chanyeol feels a rush of emotions flooding him at once, the same restless feeling he got when he first heard Yixing’s voice comes back and now he understands. Yixing is truly his mate and his wolf wants to be claimed by Yixing. His heart won’t stop beating so fast as Yixing spins him around a few times, smiling the entire time. He wants to cry and yell and shout out to the world that his mate is here, that his mate is _finally_ in his arms.

“My Yixing,” Chanyeol smiles and presses their foreheads together.

“My Chanyeol,” Yixing grins and connects their lips.

It’s everything Chanyeol’s ever dreamed of when their lips slowly, shyly meet in short, small kisses. All he feels is love every time their lips meet, sending electric shivers throughout his entire body. Soon, their lips glide together in something a little more heated, trying to find a rhythm of their own when Yixing tugs Chanyeol’s bottom lip between his teeth. It has Chanyeol giggling into their next few kisses and he thinks he hears Junmyeon say they need to go, but chooses to ignore it.

Everything in him is screaming, _yes, Yixing is your mate._ So Chanyeol can’t let go and leave, not when this is the first time he gets to see and scent and feel and taste Yixing. He lets himself melt in each kiss that Yixing gives, their tongues teasing and rolling against each other’s when it starts to get a bit rough. He lets himself take in the sweet, strong scent of honeycrisp, of home. Chanyeol runs his hands through soft hair and pulls back to start places small kisses on Yixing’s dimples.

“Yixing,” Chanyeol breathes out. Yixing lets out a soft hum. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Yixing beams and Chanyeol kisses over his dimples again. “I love you.”

Chanyeol then captures Yixing’s lips into another kiss that easily gets as heated as before. And when Yixing starts to plant kisses across Chanyeol’s jaw, Junmyeon really steps in.

Junmyeon pinches at Chanyeol’s side and sternly says, “We need to go. You’re getting stared at.” Chanyeol shrugs and gasps when Yixing licks up his neck. Junmyeon pinches the bridge of his nose. “If you go on any longer, you’ll end up getting claimed right in the middle of the airport.” Chanyeol still doesn’t care and lets Yixing mark the base of his neck. “For fucks sake.”

Yixing snarls when they have to be pried away from each other by Junmyeon, a surprisingly strong Junmyeon. Chanyeol’s sure if Junmyeon was anything other than an omega, Yixing would have snapped his arm.

“Hey, at least save it for the car,” Junmyeon says as Yixing sets Chanyeol down. Junmyeon then picks up Yixing’s bags where they lay forgotten.

Chanyeol looks to Yixing who unwillingly nods. Chanyeol slips his hand into Yixing’s own as Yixing kisses him again, more briefly this time, and the three of them head out to Junmyeon’s car. Once they reach the car, Junmyeon pops the back door to set Yixing’s bags inside as Chanyeol begins to lift down the back seats to extend the bed into one large area, Chanyeol vaguely remembering Yixing liking to shift after long periods of travel.

“Before you two hop in, I’m just going to ask to not be traumatized by anything; visually or by hearing,” Junmyeon says as he comes to stand next to Yixing.

“I should sit up front then,” Chanyeol comments after he’s done with shifting the seats down. He sees a spare blanket towards the back and uses it to cover the bed and then hops out. “We can talk about new recipes to try or something.” He then tries to move past his friend and mate when a hand from each of them stop him.

“Just get in the back with him. He’ll be whining the entire way home if you don’t,” Junmyeon sighs. “You both will. Now get in and just enjoy him being here.” Junmyeon waits, presumably until both of them enter the vehicle.

“You sure?” Chanyeol asks and Junmyeon just motions for him to hurry and get in.

Chanyeol turns towards Yixing who already has his shirt off, tossed inside the car when Chanyeol was too busy talking to Junmyeon. Chanyeol goes red and tries not to drool at the sight, but he does reach out to run his fingertips down Yixing’s chest before Junmyeon is pushing his hand away. Both Yixing and Chanyeol glare at the omega.

“No funny business. Now get in,” Junmyeon says.

“Alright, alright,” Yixing huffs. “Get in Chanyeol baby.”

Hearing the nickname in person makes Chanyeol beam and he crawls into the car right away and even before he can get settled, he feels a heavy weight enter the car. He thinks he hears the car door shut and it’s confirmed when he sees Junmyeon hop into the driver’s seat. There’s an unfamiliar yet safe presence that Chanyeol can feel watching him until he feels hot breath against his neck. Chanyeol gulps, hands shaking because this is it. He turns around slowly, until he sits on his ass.

And instantly, Chanyeol is hit with the urge to shift, to submit as Yixing knocks into him, effectively forcing him to lie on his back as he hovers over him. But Chanyeol wants to have a little control to take in Yixing’s wolf and reaches out to cup Yixing’s face. He smooths his hands over black fur and even rubs behind Yixing’s ears a little, but of course his favorite part would be Yixing’s violet eyes. Yixing then licks Chanyeol’s face a few times and lets out a whine.

Yixing wants to start claiming him.

_Now._

“No,” Junmyeon says from the front. “I said no funny business and I meant it.”

Yixing growls as Chanyeol clings to his fur.

“Shh, it’s okay,” Chanyeol whispers and tries to calm Yixing down by petting him. It doesn’t work when his mate begins to pace back and forth in the small bed of the car. He can’t let Yixing be upset and hates seeing him like this. “Junmyeon, I can’t—I need—he needs me,” Chanyeol stutters through, desperation filling every single word. _“Please.”_

There’s an all too loud groan and swearing underneath Junmyeon’s breath before he gives a reluctant, “Fine. But _the both of you_ owe me.”

If Junmyeon says anything after, Chanyeol doesn’t hear. All he can do is focus on is freeing himself from his clothing as quickly as possible. Once he’s naked, Chanyeol doesn’t waste any time and shifts into his wolf—a silver and gray form with white underneath. As soon as his eyes connect with Yixing’s, Yixing is barreling into his side then licking at his face. Chanyeol returns the favor and could probably die from happiness right now and how excited both their wolves are to meet. Chanyeol nuzzles his head into Yixing’s neck before turning himself around.

He’s ready.

Time seems to stop as he waits for Yixing to make his move, to claim him until there’s a sudden sharp pain in what he thinks is his thigh. It causes him to yelp and it’s the last thing Chanyeol remembers fully. Everything after feels like a daze. It doesn’t really register when Yixing mounts him or fucks him or even when Yixing stops and no longer moves and just lies on top of him. He only really comes back to his senses when he feels _human_ Yixing petting him gently and telling him how much he loves him.

It takes a while for Chanyeol to not feel so lightheaded and shift back, but once he does, Yixing’s lips are immediately on his.

“For the love the gods, please finish claiming Chanyeol at home,” Junmyeon interrupts. _Loudly_ at that.

Chanyeol bursts into laughter as Yixing snickers into Chanyeol’s neck.

“We can wait,” Chanyeol says as he sits up. “We should get dressed.”

“We should,” Yixing agrees and _gods,_ Chanyeol doesn’t think he’ll ever get over being able to finally hear _his mate_ speak to him in person. Chanyeol shivers under his touch when Yixing trails his fingers along the claim mark on Chanyeol’s upper thigh. It’s still a bit bloody, but nothing Chanyeol can’t handle. “Just one more, right here?” Yixing asks as he points to and touches the side of Chanyeol’s neck. “Or here?” he asks as he drags his finger to Chanyeol’s shoulder.

“Somewhere visible,” is all Chanyeol says before kissing Yixing again, making sure their fingers are locked tightly together. He knows he’ll never tire of this either.

After managing to dress themselves through all the kissing, they sit cuddled together, Chanyeol wrapped in Yixing’s arms. The rest of the ride is quiet save for Yixing whispering _‘I love you,’_ every now and then to Chanyeol, earning a small giggle and peck to the lips from the omega every time.

Once they arrive to Chanyeol’s apartment complex, Junmyeon follows them up, carrying Yixing’s bags until they reach the door.

“I think we got it from here,” Chanyeol says as he punches the key code into the lock. “My heat usually lasts about five days, but since Yixing is here, it might be shorter.”

“Okay. I’ll let everyone know then,” Junmyeon says. “But I need something first.”

That confuses Chanyeol, but he doesn’t say anything as Junmyeon lets himself in. Junmyeon then sets Yixing’s bags over by the couch just when Seulgi enters the living room.

“Hi,” Seulgi greets quietly and then holds out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you Yixing. In person of course.”

“Same here,” Yixing smiles. “It really smells like you in here. Like caramel. It’s so strong,” he says, clearly amazed.

“I’ve already bought everything you’ll need for your heat, so you two can just relax,” Seulgi informs them all. “I’ll see you when your heat is over.” She stands on her tiptoes to pat Chanyeol’s head.

“And where will you go?” Chanyeol asks. As far as he knows, Seulgi didn’t want to intrude on any couple so she naturally stayed with him. But now all of them are paired up.

“She’s staying with me until then,” Junmyeon answers with a tiny grin. “We need to talk about some things.” Chanyeol nods. “Let’s get out of here.” Junmyeon then grabs Seulgi’s hand, to her surprise, and leads them out.

Chanyeol hopes they’re on their way back to each other.

As soon as the door shuts, Chanyeol looks over to Yixing and suddenly, he’s nervous all over again. His heart won’t stop beating so fast and he can just _feel_ his hand getting all clammy as he rubs them over his thighs. He doesn’t understand why—Yixing is his mate! But being alone in his presence has Chanyeol feeling all kinds of shy despite having been partially claimed in the car. Yixing even saw him _naked._ But still, there’s anxiety building in his chest that won’t go away and there’s no Junmyeon to blame the awkwardness on. He’s really going to be fully bonded to another wolf— _soon_ —and Yixing will be his. Forever. It’s a hard thought to grasp.

“You must be tired right?” Chanyeol asks as he drags Yixing’s bags further into his apartment as a distraction. “The jetlag got to you right? Or maybe you want some water?”

“Chanyeol,” Yixing snickers, but it goes in one ear and out the other.

“Or are you hungry?” Chanyeol asks when he stops at his bedroom door. “I can cook for you if you want?”

“Chanyeol, baby, my love,” Yixing sweetly, softly says as he takes hold of both of Chanyeol’s hands. “You don’t have to be shy around me.” He then wraps his arms around Chanyeol, slowly calming him down. “I claimed you; we’re mates now.”

“Well, not entirely yet,” Chanyeol mumbles into Yixing’s hair when he hugs him back. Chanyeol feels Yixing laugh into his chest. “What?”

Yixing pulls back and pecks Chanyeol on the lips. “Then let’s work on that, yeah?”

Chanyeol doesn’t say anything when Yixing threads their fingers together and leads him inside his— _their_ —bedroom. Chanyeol feels like his heart is going to leap out of his chest when Yixing walks them over to the bed and crawls on it, bringing Chanyeol with him. Yixing then lies down and beckons with a single finger for Chanyeol to come over from where he sits. Chanyeol swallows hard and makes the move to straddle Yixing’s waist, but does nothing more but keep his hands in his own lap to twiddle his thumbs.

Yixing smooths his hands over Chanyeol’s thighs and says, “C’mere love,” and guides Chanyeol forward until their lips meet.

And Chanyeol still doesn’t understand why he just won’t stop being so hesitant, even in their tiny, little kisses that Yixing has to coax him in to. It wasn’t like this at the airport or even the car ride home. Maybe the adrenaline of seeing Yixing for the first time has worn off. Maybe he’s afraid of saying the wrong thing now that they can speak in private. Maybe it’s a bunch of different things, but he knows for certain that he _needs_ to relax before he ruins this for them both.

“Baby,” Yixing says as he cups Chanyeol’s face with both hands, “are you okay? You’re kind of shaking.”

“I am. I’m just—you’re—” Chanyeol pauses not knowing what to say next until he decides it’s best to spill his guts out. He sits up and so does Yixing, hands glued to Chanyeol’s waist. “I don’t want to ruin this for us. And you’re going to be my mate. _Officially._ I love you and I don’t know. It’s our first time and I’m nervous. Like I’ve had sex before, but I don’t want to ruin it. Or us.”

Yixing begins to smooth his thumbs over wherever they reach skin. “Then let me lead, okay?” Chanyeol nods. “And even if it doesn’t go perfectly, we’ll be okay. We have all the time in the world now.” Yixing tilts Chanyeol’s head up by his fingertips and kisses him reassuringly. Then quietly says, “Do you want me to bite you before I fuck you or during? Or we can wait. We don’t have to finish today.”

But Chanyeol knows if they don’t finish within three days, Yixing’s wolf will see it as a sign of rejection and their bond will be broken. It’d be difficult, nearly impossible to gain his trust back no matter how understanding human Yixing could be. He can’t wait.

“Today. We finish this today,” Chanyeol states firmly and buries his face into Yixing’s neck. “I want you. I’m just nervous.” He plants a small kiss to the base of Yixing’s neck before facing his alpha. “And do it during. I heard from Sehun it can hurt, a lot, so um, during so I’m distracted.”

“By my dick?” Yixing asks, cutely at that with a tilt of his head and lips puckered out.

 _“Yixing,”_ Chanyeol whines and playfully smacks Yixing’s chest.

“Yes, Chanyeol baby?” he asks, brow raised.

“You’re ridiculous.”

“And you’re not shaking anymore,” he smiles.

“I’m not— _oh_ —oh, I’m not,” he notices. “I’m not.” Silence fills the room and Chanyeol bites down on his lip nervously. “But we should um, get to it?”

Yixing snickers a, “We should,” and kisses Chanyeol soundly on the lips.

And Chanyeol easily gives in, relaxing under Yixing’s guidance and melting into the kiss. And now he doesn’t understand why he was so nervous before because it’s really so easy to get lost in Yixing, in his touches. The way he gently cups his face and thumbs over his cheek. How his hand slips beneath his shirt to trail up and down his back before riding him of the garment. Every press of Yixing’s fingertips has his skin tingling in pleasure.

It’s so easy to get wrapped up in Yixing that it hardly registers when Chanyeol’s rolled on his back for Yixing to better kiss and lick his way across his jaw and down his neck. Yixing pauses for a moment to toss away his own shirt before diving back in to tug Chanyeol’s bottom lip between his teeth and lick into his mouth. Chanyeol whimpers into the kiss and lets out a sharp gasp when Yixing begins to roll his hips against him.

 _It’s really happening,_ Chanyeol thinks when he loops his arms and legs around Yixing. Chanyeol feels his own cock twitch and himself steadily getting wet with each passing second. He lets out a soft moan when Yixing grinds down just a bit harder.

“Yixing, clothes,” is all Chanyeol says, but doesn’t need to say anything further. Yixing easily helps them both out of their remaining clothing and seats himself back right between Chanyeol’s legs.

“You’re so pretty. You know that, don’t you baby?” Yixing says, marking his way down Chanyeol’s chest and stomach. Chanyeol arches into every kiss and bite and touch Yixing gives. “My pretty omega.” Chanyeol feels his heart flutter and cheeks go red and isn’t sure if it’s from Yixing’s compliment or the way his alpha has his fingers wrapped around his cock, lazily sliding his hand along the length. Chanyeol’s breath hitches when Yixing sucks lightly at the head.

“Oh my gods,” Chanyeol stammers out and uses his arm to cover his face when Yixing kisses his way down his dick and sucks on his balls. “Yixing, I want—”

“Hm, baby?” Yixing asks right before sucking Chanyeol all the way to the base and pulling off teasingly slow, repeating the action a few times. Chanyeol lifts arm to see Yixing staring directly at him. “Chanyeol, love, tell me what you want,” he says in between nipping at Chanyeol’s thighs.

“Your hand,” he mumbles and wonders if Yixing even heard it.

“My hand?”

“Hold my hand,” he continues to mumble.

“My mate is so cute,” Yixing singsongs and links his hand with Chanyeol’s own. “Chanyeol baby, look at me.”

Chanyeol uncovers his face to sit up on his forearms, Yixing threading their fingers back together once he’s settled. Thank the gods Yixing is quick to take his cock back into his mouth, building up a steady rhythm of switching between bobbing his head and using his hands. It has Chanyeol’s fingers timidly tangling in Yixing’s hair and him trying to resist the urge to buck up into Yixing’s mouth. He’s _so good_ at getting Chanyeol worked up to the point of driving him crazy with the way his tongue drags up his cock and over his slit and how his fingers twist and glide effortlessly.

And surprisingly, Yixing is so attentive, telling him softly to pull his hair as much as he’d like, telling him it’s okay to just let go. Most alphas wouldn’t dare to be this caring so it shocks him in the most affectionate way, grateful that Yixing wants to please him just as much as he had during their video calls. And when Chanyeol, does use Yixing’s mouth as he’d like, pulls his hair as hard as he’d like, Yixing does nothing but give small praises and encouragements for him to continue.

 _“Yixing,”_ Chanyeol moans when he feels the alpha’s fingers tease around his rim. “I’m—I’m going to— _fuck Yixing,_ ” he moans, long and drawn out when Yixing thrusts his fingers inside a few times. Chanyeol clenches down on them, hoping it’ll get Yixing to keep going, but it doesn’t.

Yixing pulls off his dick and removes his fingers with a smirk. “Were you about to come Chanyeol baby?” Yixing asks and Chanyeol just sits there with his bottom lip poking out. Yixing laughs with a shake of his head and then says, “Hand me a pillow baby then lift your hips for me.” Chanyeol does as told.

When Chanyeol realizes Yixing is situating the pillow underneath him, he’s fast to stutter out, “The pillow—I—it’s going to get soaked.”

“The entire bed is going to be a mess by the time we’re done love.”

Yixing then crawls up to Chanyeol, kissing him open mouthed and filthy. Yet the kisses are nothing short of sweet even with each one getting rougher than the last. And when Yixing tries to pry himself away, Chanyeol keeps him in place, fully aware of what Yixing wants to do. But, he can’t be the only one being taken care of.

Chanyeol lets go of Yixing only to get him on his back and straddle him, weaving their fingers together as he slowly rocks his hips down, earning soft moans and low grunts from the both of them. But as much as Chanyeol loves the way their cocks slide against each other, he can’t help but stare at Yixing’s dick, wanting to touch and feel a taste of what’s to come. So he reaches down, ready to touch, but pulls back at the last second when he sees that Yixing’s eyes are no longer closed, focused on the pleasure, but open and peering right at his hand.

“Getting shy on me?” Yixing asks, grin across his lips. Chanyeol shakes his head and when he reaches down for a second time, it’s Yixing who stops him this time.

“Why’d you stop me?” Chanyeol asks, thinking of how completely unfair it is that his mouth and hands aren’t being put to good use right now.

Yixing tugs Chanyeol forward, kissing the pout right off his lips. “Because I want to claim you,” he answers and Chanyeol cries out when he feels Yixing’s fingers slip inside him and start moving, _fast_ “I need you to be mine.”

 _“Gods yes,”_ Chanyeol sighs out, not even bothering to argue that he can’t enjoy Yixing’s dick like he wants to for now. _“Please.”_ He steadies his palms on Yixing’s chest for better leverage to grind back on his alpha’s fingers. _“Yixing, love. I need more,”_ Chanyeol pants as he moves his hips a little faster. He needs Yixing to claim him like he said he would.

That’s all it takes for Yixing to stop and hold Chanyeol by the hips.

“Can you ride me? Hm, baby?” Yixing asks even though he’s already guiding Chanyeol to lift up on his knees a bit.

 _“Yes,”_ he breathes out and reaches back to line Yixing up with his rim. Slowly, Chanyeol sinks down on Yixing’s cock, enjoying the stretch it gives, how full he feels once he’s all the way seated. He wiggles his hips feeling Yixing’s knot snug inside. He can’t wait for it to expand, locking them together.

The start is unrushed and lazy, Chanyeol barely lifting himself off of Yixing’s cock because of how good it feels to have him inside, cock brushing against his prostate with each roll forward. Yixing doesn’t seem to mind anyway as his hands roam anywhere they can reach on Chanyeol—his thighs, his nipples, his waist—until they settle on his ass, guiding Chanyeol’s movements. In no time, Chanyeol is bouncing off of Yixing’s cock as fast as he can, enjoying the way Yixing’s eyes roll back and nails into his sides.

Without warning, Chanyeol is flipped onto his back. Yixing holds him by the thighs and fucks into him slowly, gently as if he’s going to break if he does anything more. And it feels amazing, for now, with the way Yixing’s cock drags against his walls and puts a slight pressure against his prostate. But Chanyeol needs more of what he knows he’s capable of. He remembers the way Yixing’s voice would shake and hips would move relentlessly as he got himself over video. He needs that Yixing to fuck him until he can’t think straight.

“Yixing, I need more,” Chanyeol says, voice choppy with every word. “You don’t have to worry about me breaking or anything.” Yixing slows but doesn’t still as he looks to Chanyeol, brow raised. “I want—I want you to fuck me like you promised you would.”

The change in Yixing is instant.

He doesn’t bother to build up to any kind of rhythm, fucking into Chanyeol hard and fast. Chanyeol can barely move to meet him halfway, but that doesn’t seem to matter when Yixing continues to thrust into him without commanding him to do more. And the way Yixing moves his hips is sinful and Chanyeol can’t stop the little moans and hiccups that fall from his mouth. It has his mind going blank, the only thing it can focus on is Yixing until Yixing’s cock seems to get bigger, stretching him a bit wider than before. He’s being knotted and has no idea of how to react.

“Yixing love, you—” Chanyeol gasps out. It’s a slow stretch of of pleasure with the way Yixing’s knot continuously catches at his rim and rubs against him. Chanyeol doesn’t even feel the least bit embarrassed from the drool he feels dripping from his mouth. If Yixing already has him like this without being too rough, Chanyeol can’t wait to see how Yixing will have him acting when they fully learn and explore each other’s bodies.

“Yeah,” Yixing sighs with a smile and reaches to the side to untwist Chanyeol’s hands from the sheets and lace them with his own. “Fuck, baby.” He starts to move his hips faster.

When Yixing can no longer pull out, he leans in towards his mate, taking Chanyeol’s thighs with him and crashing their lips together. It’s tender and sweet even as Yixing’s lips travel downward to kiss and nip lick over Chanyeol’s jaw, his neck. When Yixing gives special attention to a particular spot on the side of his neck, Chanyeol clutches at his alpha’s back, ready for the claim.

Teeth pierces skin and sink in, making Chanyeol cry out in discomfort. It hurts a lot more than expected, but the excitement, _the fulfillment_ he gets now that they’re truly bonded outweighs any pain and the way Yixing continues to grind up into him keeps him distracted enough. Yixing licks repeatedly over his claim until there’s no longer any blood dripping from the wound.

“Yixing, touch me,” Chanyeol cries. “I need—”

“I got you,” Yixing whispers, kissing just below Chanyeol’s ear.

Yixing wraps his hand around Chanyeol’s cock, moving his hand fast until Chanyeol is spilling between them. Yixing follows shortly after.

When they’re breathing has evened out, Yixing sits up and Chanyeol naturally follows and wiggles around until he’s comfortable in his lap. It’ll be a while before Yixing’s knot shrinks enough for him to pull out.

“I’m—happy,” Chanyeol sighs in content. “I’m starting to feel a little warm though,” he says as he loops his arms around Yixing’s neck and presses his cheek against Yixing’s. He knows his heat will start soon which will just trigger a rut for Yixing. He can’t wait. Chanyeol then brushes his lips against Yixing’s. He doesn’t kiss him, not yet, instead he smiles and locks his gaze with Yixing’s, amazed that he’s mated now. Yixing is his. “My mate. You’re mine.”

“I am,” Yixing grins and leans in to kiss Chanyeol on his forehead. “I’m all yours.” He kisses Chanyeol right on his dimple. “You’re all mine, love.” Yixing kisses Chanyeol right on his lips.

“My love, my Yixing,” Chanyeol whispers in between kisses that start fairly heavy and heated and gradually become light and chaste. Chanyeol tries to hold in a yawn as his eyelids begin to droop.

“Are you getting sleepy?” Yixing asks and nuzzles into Chanyeol’s neck, right at his claim mark.

“No, I’m—” and on cue Chanyeol lets out a large yawn. He almost thinks of denying how tired he is in favor of kissing Yixing some more, but he can barely keep his eyes focused on a single object in their room. “I’m sleepy. And kind of hot.”

Yixing lifts his head to kiss Chanyeol on his cheek before giving a lasting one on his lips. “Then sleep,” he says as he gently brings them down to the bed so Chanyeol lies on top of him. “I’ll take care of you when you wake up.”

Chanyeol hums and snuggles against Yixing as best as possible. He closes his eyes, letting Yixing’s warmth lull him to sleep, happy his mate is finally by his side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I’m so full,” Chanyeol says and dives into the bed, resting on his stomach and patting the space next to him for Yixing to join. “Your mom’s homemade cooking is always the best.” Granted, it was her cooking at her restaurant, but it was still delicious. Besides, who was he to say no to free food after closing up Gravity, his bakery, for the day.

“I’m glad you liked it,” Yixing says, coming to lie down and using Chanyeol’s butt as a pillow. “She also said your Chinese is getting better.”

“Only because I’m your mate and will carry your future children,” Chanyeol retorts. “She has to be nice. Your dad said I still needed lots of improvement.” Chanyeol puckers his lips and puffs out his cheeks.

“First, the fact that you could understand that shows you’re getting better,” Yixing points out. Chanyeol can’t think of a smart comment to reply with. “Second, mom keeps asking about that you know.”

Chanyeol would inform Yixing that his mother—both of their mothers actually—have been asking about their future grandchildren since they first mated. He doesn’t. “We’ve only been mates for four years now. I still want you to myself,” he yawns and snuggles more into his pillow.

“Ah, really?”

Chanyeol hums. “Unless I get pregnant during my next heat.”

That makes Yixing sit up immediately. “Chanyeol baby look at me,” he says and shakes him until Chanyeol is sitting up. Or more like leaning against Yixing as he speaks. “What do you mean next heat?”

“Well, I got the IUD removed,” he begins explaining. “Before we left Seoul actually and I kind of forgot to tell you until now so if you want—” Chanyeol doesn’t get to finish, not when Yixing is kissing him hard and pulling him into his lap. “I take it you want kids?” he asks against Yixing’s lips.

“I do,” he smiles and kisses Chanyeol a few quick times.

“Good. Now Sehun will stop complaining about being pregnant alone again,” he groans. “Our kids will be close in age though. So that’s a plus.”

“He’s cute,” Yixing laughs. “Too bad no one else seems to want more kids now.”

“Except Jongin. Him and Taemin are expecting.”

“And Joohyun and Sooyoung just had their baby girl.” The only ones out of their friend groups that don’t have kids are Jiho, Junmyeon and Seulgi, and Kyungsoo and Jihyun. Everyone else at least has a pup. Or in Jongdae’s case two since he gave birth to twins. “Is everyone else getting pregnant affecting you?”

“A tiny bit,” he admits. Sehun had given birth to his little Jaehyun, but Chanyeol wasn’t able to be in Seoul at the time due to meeting Yixing’s parents for the first time thus Chanyeol didn’t give too much thought on it years back. It wasn’t until he saw Jongdae and Minseok with their twins a few months ago and how happy they were that the thought of kids kept coming up in his mind. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while now though.”

“Okay. Next heat we’ll try.”

Chanyeol smiles and pulls Yixing to lie down with him. He snuggles into Yixing’s embrace, ready for the next chapter in their life.


End file.
